Dalton Academy For Girls and Boys
by hearmeroar713
Summary: DOES NOT HAVE THE SAME STORYLINE AS THE SHOW. Elements from the show have been included. WARNING: Some themes may be uncomfortable for some audiences, please stop reading the fic if you feel uncomfortable with anything. OC, SLASH, LEMONS IN LATER CHAPTERS
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Welcome To Ohio, Lucky Talia**

Dalton Academy is a place for the children of rich parents who didn't have time to study and live. The strict rules and disciplinary system kept all of them in line while the academics had them tired enough to not cause any trouble. Of course, that wasn't true for students from a particular house. This story follows the lives of a number of those students and their colorful splash in the history books of Dalton Academy.

'The four of you are in Windsor House. That is the blue one on the Westernmost side of campus. Your Housemaster will be Mr Woodward, he will be here shortly with Charles Lentley, the standing Head Prefect of your house, to help you settle in.' Margaret Hencher, the Discipline Officer at Dalton, peered down her nose and spectacles at the four teenagers. _They seem to get more mischievous every year. Putting them in Windsor… I'll probably regret this later. _She thought. She circled the four slowly, her perfectly shined black heels clicking on the perfectly shined wood floor. The three boys and girl didn't dare move as the thin woman seemed to scrutinize every _cell _in their body for imperfection.

'Ms Reagan, I expect that you will be wearing the proper shoes by the time term starts. Two and a half inch heel, not two.' Ms Hencher said to the girl. Talia Reagan was the only girl who was transferring that year. She had thought that she had done okay, her heels not too high but near enough to the requirement. Her pale green eyes widened slightly in fear. At least she hadn't been told to straighten her hair. Her hair was naturally curly to the point where gravity was the only thing saving her from looking like she had been electrocuted. She swallowed, afraid that she would spit somewhere.

'Yes, Ms Hencher.' She said quietly, her clear, sweet voice breaking the icy silence. The boys were surprised as they heard the obvious English accent.

'And you, Mr Montgomery, do try to do something about your hair. No _mohawks_ by the start of term, do you understand, Mr Montgomery? Proper belt too, Mr Anderson.' Ms Hencher said, towering above the already tall boys. Wesley Montgomery had been at a party three days before he was supposed to make his way to Westerville, Ohio. At this party, he had decided to cut his hair into a mohawk, under the influence of quite a number of different liquors.

'Yes, Ms Hencher.' The two boys chorused. David Thompson was the only one left. David, though quite mischievous, prided himself in being the most organized and disciplined. At least in front of teachers. He smirked inwardly as he knew Hencher could never find anything wrong with him. He had even measured his shoe laces so the two parts of the bow matched in length to each other and was only one centimeter shorter than the ends of the string.

'Hmm. Mr Thompson, keep up the good work.' Ms Hencher said, nodding slightly in approval at David's presentable appearance. Something loud buzzed, causing all of them except Ms Hencher, who instead blinked, to jump.

'Come in.' She called. The door opened and a man and a tall, blonde boy whose hair had been slicked back walked in. He looked reminiscent of Elvis Presley. His eyes darted from each of them before he smiled at Talia.

'Ah, Mr Woodward. These are our new students.' Ms Hencher said, smiling nervously, smoothing down her beige blazer down slightly. Talia fought down a smirk, she did however, understand Ms Hencher's crush. The man was even taller than Ms Hencher, who was herself at least six feet and two inches tall. Mr Woodward stood at six feet five inches with longish, wavy, dark brown hair, gelled slightly in the front to keep it in control. He had electric blue eyes that shone when he smiled, which apparently seemed like a whole lot. His teeth were perfectly shaped, aligned and colored, shining pearly white.

'Margaret.' He smiled at Ms Hencher politely and turned to the four teenagers standing in a line in front of him, heads tilted to meet his eyes. 'What are you names?' He asked, his eyes now blatantly showing curiosity.

'David Thompson, sir.' David smiled and shook Mr Woodward's hand with his own equally large one.

'Wesley Montgomery.' Wes smiled his smart smile and shook Mr Woodward's hand firmly to draw the teacher's attention away from his hair.

'Blaine Anderson, Mr Woodward.' Blaine smiled, trying to contain the use of his teeth in it, Talia could tell.

'Talia Reagan, sir.' Talia smiled sweetly, showing her teeth after greeting the teacher.

_They __**seem **__normal. Maybe these four won't be weird. _Joshua Woodward thought. Windsor house, the blue house, was the most notorious of the four. Windsor housed the best of the best, the craziest, the most extreme, the cleverest, they were all in there. Windsor produced noise at all hours of the day and night and laughter could be heard at any given second along with occasional explosions.

'Welcome to Windsor, I hope you fit in well. I trust that your things are already being delivered?' Mr Woodward said, rubbing his hands together. The four nodded slightly. 'Fantastic. Charlie will explain the mechanics of living in Windsor, then.' He smiled and walked to the door. Turning around he flashed another smile at Ms Hencher before turning the shiny brass doorknob. The four, still slightly stunned by everything going on didn't move until Charlie gave them a light shove.

'So, first of all, I hope you make it in Windsor.' Charlie said.

'Make it?' Wes asked warily.

'You see, Windsor is a lot to get used to, so most transfers don't last very long in there. Now it's a habit for Hencher to put everyone in Windsor first to figure out if they're going to be any trouble or if they would suit better in any of the other houses.' Charlie explained, following Mr Woodward out the door of the administrations building. 'So basically, half of Windsor is the girl's side and the other is the boys' side. The rule is just that a member of the opposite sex must not be on your side of the dorm by 11 o clock, an hour after curfew. Curfew is just when you have to be done with everything, going to the library, picking up art supplies, etcetera, and be back in the dorm. There's a main shower on every floor on both sides, but your own toilet in your room. Talia you won't until a new transfer comes in. David and Wes -may I call you Wes?- you're sharing a three-room with Blaine. You can do whatever you want to decorate it, just don't damage anything. Or at least beyond a weeks' repair work. My room number is 63. If you have any problems just come by.' Charlie finished as they reached the three story brown brick building. A gold plaque on the door said 'Windsor House' in capitals. A blue flag with the Windsor coat of arms, a cobalt blue shield with a yellow cross on it. Mr Woodward opened the door and immediately, screaming, laughter and odd things rushed out, at the end of all that, an explosion sounded. None of the four transfers flinched. The middle of the building was hollow, the common room sort of like a courtyard in the middle of it. From the upper floors, you could look down into the common room.

'You'll find your keys inside your room. I'll bring you to it.' Charlie said, walking swiftly to the left side of the common room. Everyone looked up and said 'hey, Charlie,' before returning to whatever they were doing. One boy wearing lab goggles rushed in and someone tossed him a fire extinguisher.

'That was Yoonsung. Science geek.' Charlie explained. They walked up to the second floor in the girl's dorm. As they walked down to room 34, the doors of girl's rooms opened and they all smiled to greet the Head Prefect.

'Hey, Charlie.' They all said, batting their eyes and flipping their hair. Talia fought the urge to roll her eyes. Then, they came to room 34. The door of the room opposite, room 35, and two girls stood in the doorway.

'Hey, Rita.' Charlie smiled at one of the girls. Rita had an extremely curly bob hair cut which had blue streaks in it, contrasting with the platinum blonde. She wore black horn rimmed glasses that didn't have lenses. The girl next to her had shoulder length mouse brown hair, a school girl fringe and striking light hazel eyes.

'Hey, Charlie.' Rita smiled, a much more wholesome, platonic smirk than the coy smirk the rest of the girls had been wearing. Rita was quite petite, at five feet three inches compared to Talia who was six inches taller. Rita looked up to Talia, who was standing awkwardly in front of her door, holding the strap of her messenger bag for something to do.

'You must be Talia. Why don't you come by after you put down your stuff?' Rita said, winking. Talia blinked, taken aback by her friendliness. She had expected that her only friends for the first few weeks would be her pen and notebook.

'Sure.' Talia said, smiling awkwardly.

'You three stay out here.' Charlie said to the Blaine, Wes and David. He opened the door to Talia's room. Talia walked in after him. She gasped as she saw the grand dorm room. Despite the dorm's allegiance to the color blue, the walls in here had been painted maroon with gold trimming and furniture. The floors were made of light mahogany boards. The room was symmetrical; the two beds were on raised platforms that housed a desk, large cork board and bookshelf. Next to it was the bed with a large window in the middle. On the desk on the left side of the room was a key.

'On your desk is the key.' Charlie said. 'Oh by the way. Trust Rita. She's the one to go to if you don't want to talk to a boy. Really. She won't go Regina George on you.' He smiled. He lingered a moment longer than was necessary or appropriate. Charlie left the room to take the other three to their dorms. Talia put down her bag on her desk and sat down on her bed. She looked around the room, soaking everything in. She sighed to herself. _Welcome home. _She thought. She scolded herself for thinking about the reason she was even here in the middle of Ohio.

_You are Talia Reagan. You can be yourself here. No one knows anything about you, your parents, your family or what you are capable of. Just remember the story and be yourself. _


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: The Residents of Windsor**

Talia snapped the rubber band that was hidden underneath her blazer. She was sure she had a red mark there, she had been thinking too much of… _it_ today. She took a deep breath and walked across the hall to Rita's room after picking up her key. She knocked. The door opened quickly.

'Talia! Come in.' Rita greeted, smiling. Talia walked into the room which was essentially the same as hers but the girls had covered their walls in splats of paint and above their beds painted their names.

'Sit down on my bed. Nowhere else anyway.' Rita offered. Talia sat down on the bed on the right side of the room as the left one was already occupied by the other girl, who was grinning at Talia.

'I'm Farrah.' She said. 'We know Windsor and Dalton the best. At least out of all the girls. We'll tell you who to go to and who not to. I have a feeling about you.' Rita rolled her eyes and sat down on her bed next to Talia.

'Don't scare her, Far. So, Talia, where are you from? No one here's actually from Ohio anyway.' Rita said, smiling genuinely at Talia.

'Uh, London actually. Not America at all.' Talia replied smoothly. Rita raised an eyebrow and smiled.

'Well, I can tell you for sure that you'll fit in just fine. Doesn't matter if you're bookish or anything, you're pretty and from somewhere that's _not _here. You've been so polite so far, so you definitely can't be bad at all.' She smiled and laughed. Talia grinned sincerely at Rita. 'HA! There's a real smile.' Rita said. The three of them giggled.

'I'm from South Africa.' Farrah supplied. 'I know, I sound awfully like Cady Heron.' She said, rolling her eyes.

'So, first of all, the first thing you'll want to know is who to watch out for, am I right?' Rita asked. Talia nodded. 'Well, the only 'Queen Bitch' type you'll find here is Miranda Gray. And her cronies Ginger Lee and Jade Richards.' Talia raised an eyebrow.

'She doesn't sound like a movie character at all.' She said. Rita nodded.

'Oh, it gets worse. Her parents don't own anything. Her grandparents just made vats and vats of money so now for the next four generations they can afford to live like this and not have to work. Terribly spoilt. Daddy issues, that sort of thing.' Rita explained. 'She doesn't even actually have friends here. She just terrorizes everyone into shunning one person and spreads these _awful _rumors. No bullying policy, so the only thing she can do is have everyone give an iceberg shoulder. Or she could pull pranks but that's for the Twins to do.'

'Twins?' Talia asked.

'Oh yeah, Blair and Blake Evans. They are _the _hottest guys around.' Farrah said dramatically, hugging a pillow and pretending to swoon. '_They _are the ones to go to if you need a prank played. They're kind of creepy though. Knows everything about everyone at every moment of the day. At least in Windsor. They still know an awful lot about members of the other houses though. _Warblers_ as well.'

'What are the Warblers?' Talia asked. Rita's eyes widened and smiled.

'They're our acapella glee club. If you make it into the Warblers then you'll be treated like a _god _for the rest of your life.' Rita said, looking as if she wanted to be a Warbler too.

'And why would that make you so special?' Talia asked. Almost everyone was in choir or knew how to sing at her old girl's boarding school in England.

'Because it's so damned hard to get in. You have to _really _have pipes on you.' Rita said. 'If you can sing very well, and you know it for a fact, then I suggest that you audition. Or try to make a sports team if you can. Anything. That's your gateway to the right friends.'

'Anything else that's essential?' Talia asked. Farrah jumped up and retrieved her phone.

'You need the number for Windsor Watch.' Farrah said, pressing buttons on her phone rapidly.

'Windsor Watch?' Talia said, completely perplexed.

'It's like E!Online for Windsor house. As far as I know, it's completely exclusive to Windsor. It's basically all the gossip going on in Windsor with some dish on the other houses as well. It's completely reliable as well because it was created by the twins.' Farrah explained. She then shoved her phone in Talia's face. 'Here. They send texts that have the latest news on it.' Talia tapped the number into her phone and almost immediately, she got a new text.

**CODE RED ALERT: **_**DO NOT**_** EAT TONIGHT'S MEAT CASSEROLE. MAY CONTAIN TRACES OF ACCIDENTAL RADISH.**

'What's wrong with the radish?' Talia asked, staring at the red blinking words on her screen.

'Oh, the radishes that we had on Monday made everyone get diarrhea.' Rita explained. Talia nodded confusedly.

'I'll keep that in mind.' She said. Rita grabbed Talia's phone.

'Here. I'll give you mine and Farrah's phone numbers.' Rita said. She then smiled. 'Let's go to dinner.' The three trooped out of Windsor, a steady stream of the students that had already come back to school filing out. As they walked slowly over to the cafeteria building they saw Charlie with his arm draped over the shoulders of a short girl whose skirt would have done better as a belly shirt.

'_That's _Miranda.' Farrah whispered, looping her arm through Talia's. Talia gasped.

'That's _Charlie_. _Charlie _is dating Miranda? I've been here an _hour _and I know that's wrong.' Talia whispered furiously. Rita laughed.

'Our Charlie may be smart and Head Prefect but _anyone _with eyes can see that _bitch _is just using him.' Rita said.

'He'd be like her hall pass for _everything._' Talia said, realization coloring her face. Farrah nodded.

'Exactly. It's what we've been trying to tell him the past _week _that school's been open. Actually most people who have already come back have already said Miranda's just using him. Maybe three more days of it will get him convinced.' She said. As people noticed the third person with Rita and Farrah, they stared and whispered slightly.

'She's not a zoo exhibition.' Farrah snapped. Immediately, people stopped. 'You know what, Talia. If you _do _make more than a month in Windsor, then I promise we'll be the best of friends.' Rita nodded eagerly in agreement. Talia smiled at them both and squeezed the arms that had been looped through her own. As they walked through the grand wooden and glass doors of the cafeteria, Rita and Farrah explained the buildings.

'The laundromat and dry cleaner's in the basement of this building. Library is on the top floors. The hospital and nurse are on the second and third floors. If you have any prescribed stuff then you'd better give it to Mrs Woodward.' Said Rita as they passed it. Talia's eyes bugged out of her head.

'Mr Woodward has a wife?' She said incredulously. Rita and Farrah immediately shushed her for being so loud. 'Then what's with Ms Hencher flirting with him?' Talia continued, whispering furiously.

'It doesn't really matter, does it? And it's not like Woodward is returning the feelings. For now, it'll just be a humorous little show that we pretend won't actually become anything more.' Farrah consoled her, patting Talia's arm.

'What's boarding school without a little drama.' Talia said, shrugging. The students had always gossiped about the teachers at her old school. Even about what they had _eaten. _The three friends walked with the tide, automatically being pushed into the cafeteria. The cafeteria had rectangular, wooden benches placed in an order that was seemingly random around the room, in the middle was a large table of food from which you helped yourself.

'What _is _this place?' She said, shaking her head. Of all the schools and boarding schools she had been to, none of them had a cafeteria that wasn't plagued by mole-ridden lunch ladies and the smell of vomit, oil, and floor cleaner. Her parents had decided that finally, she could be somewhere more glamorous for the last two years of… _it. _Everyone that was a Windsor skipped the meat casserole thanks to Blair and Blake. Talia, Rita and Farrah shuffled their way up to the table, the people in front of them taking a ridiculously long time. They found a table quickly and began to dig in, carefully picking apart their meal just in case for traces of radish.

'Excuse me? May we sit with you?' A male voice asked from behind them. Talia looked up to find Blaine, Wesley and David. The one who had asked was Blaine. He was smiling, showing his white, slightly crooked teeth to all the world.

'Uh, sure. You're Blaine, right?' Rita said. The boys arranged themselves so that Farrah and Blaine sat on either side of Talia and then Wes, David and Rita on the other side of the table.

'Yeah, and this is Wes and David.' Blaine said, gesturing to the other two boys. They flashed smiles and nodded. Talia's eyes widened as she saw that Wes had taken the meat casserole.

'Oh my god, Wes, don't eat that.' Talia said. He furrowed his eyebrows.

'Why? What's wrong with it?' He asked.

'There's radishes in it.' Rita said. 'We had a slight diarrhea epidemic last week thanks to them.' Wes dropped his fork, and moved on to his salad instead.

'If you had Windsor Watch you would know.' Talia said, smiling. All of the guys furrowed their eyebrows.

'It's like Gossip Girl except it's not about the whole school but mostly Windsor.' Farrah explained, popping a cherry tomato in her mouth. She rolled her eyes.

'Trust me, boys. It'll save your life. If not for the gossip, for things like this. Give me your phones.' She said. They shrugged and gave her their phones. She texted the number quickly and in a matter of moments, a million phones rang in the dining hall.

**LATEST: MR TRENTON AND MS DURELE TIE THE KNOT OVER THE SUMMER.**

A million gasps sounded along with laughs.

'Who is Mr Trenton and Ms Durele?' David asked, the look on his face showing plainly just how stupid he thought this was.

'They're the gym coaches. Rumor was that they were getting hot and heavy in the pool last year. Apparently it's true.' Rita said, still staring at her phone with satisfaction. 'Why don't you three come by my room tomorrow or something? There's so much you need to know.'

'Sure.' They all shrugged. Talia went back to her room, declining Rita's offer for them to watch a movie together. All her stuff had been moved in to her dorm. On her suitcases were the signatures of friends that she had met before. She smiled softly as she saw the signatures of her Korean relatives. Her mother was a quarter Korean. On top of her guitar case was an envelope. She opened it to find two letters. She read the first one, recognizing Butler Lee's favorite font.

_Talia:_

_I hope you enjoy your time at Dalton, remember, it is the last pit stop. After this, you shall be free. I packed some extra things for you. You said it would not be necessary but this is the most crucial time, young mistress. Keep it well hidden, you know the drill. Please be reminded that you are completely safe here, you will not need to be on constant watch. PD is being done on the entire grounds. Please do not tell _anyone _of your background, only those that you would unconditionally trust. It is only one more year, dear. You can be yourself here. Burn this immediately. If it becomes absolutely necessary to contact me, please only send letters, if it is an immediate emergency then -and only then- call._

_Yours,_

_Butler Lee_

She took out her lighter and burned the corner of the letter, watching as the letter curled in on itself and became brown, finally burning out her name. She threw the ashes out her window, figuring no one would notice. More strange things had come out of Windsor's windows. She started to unpack, putting books onto her shelf and putting the few pictures that she had kept onto her corkboard. Unloading her clothes, she found the extra things that Butler Lee had wrapped in her socks. She put some of them in a plastic bag and went into the bathroom, picking a piece of the ceiling and removing it, she placed the bag on the neighboring tile and replaced the ceiling. She put one in her bedside drawer. In one of the socks, she also found her inhaler. She smiled and rubbed her thumb over it. Butler Lee would have smiled and then looked at her sternly.

'_Your parents would kill me for letting you die, now wouldn't they? I didn't look after you for fifteen years to see you die, Talia. Put it in your pocket, girlie!' _

She laughed, knowing that would have been exactly his choice words for her. She guessed her parents had assigned her with Butler Lee because she knew it would be the hardest on her. She smiled and put it on her bedside table. After setting everything in place, she got ready for bed. She pulled on her pajamas and took out her contacts, putting her glasses on and tying her hair up after washing her face. She was about to settle down and read Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, for the sixteenth time, when there was a knock on her door. She put down her book and opened the door.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Blaine**

'Blaine?' She said quizzically. Blaine, also wearing glasses, was dressed in a snug striped v-neck and black pajama bottoms and flip flops.

'Hi, Talia.' He said, smiling slightly awkwardly. 'Could I come in?'

'Oh, right, sure, of course.' Talia said, stepping aside, realizing she had been staring. He sat down on her bed, picking up her book and smiling.

'Harry Potter?' He said, raising an eyebrow. She smiled.

'Of course. I brought them all with me.' She said, sitting down opposite him. 'So, what brought you here?' Blaine looked up and put down her book.

'Oh, right. This is kind of weird of me, but I want to apologize.' He said. Talia raised an eyebrow.

'For what?' She said.

'Wes, David and I kind of ignored you before, I know that we're probably not going to be very popular for a while, so we should have stuck together. Not isolated you in the group that's already being isolated.' He explained. Talia smiled at him.

'You didn't have to apologize. I didn't mind, actually. I _am _the stinky _girl_, aren't I?' She said, laughing. He smiled and looked down before looking back up at her.

'I'd like to start over… so. Hi, I'm Blaine Anderson. Have we met before?' He said, holding out a hand. Talia laughed but went with it, shaking his hand. His fingertips felt rough against her hand.

'Talia Reagan. And you must be a guitar player.' She said. He raised one triangular eyebrow.

'How did you know?' He said, smiling now in curiosity.

'Your fingertips are calloused.' She said, smiling knowingly. 'Takes one to know one, though, doesn't it?' Blaine's eyebrow hitched higher on his forehead.

'You play guitar?' He said quizzically. Most girls didn't play guitar anymore. Especially girls who looked like Talia.

'And violin. Didn't you spot the case on your way in?' She nodded.

'What else do you do, Ms Reagan?' Blaine said, lying down parallel to the foot of her bed.

'I used to dance. And I sing a bit.' Talia said casually. Blaine nodded appreciatively.

'I see we have a common forte.' Blaine said. Talia laughed.

'You _dance_?' She said incredulously. He rolled his eyes.

'Of course not. I sing.' He said, as if it were extremely obvious. Talia's eyes sparkled and she smirked.

'Sing something.' She said. Blaine sat up.

'Could I borrow your guitar?' He asked, smiling. She nodded. He walked over and picked up her guitar and sat back down on the bed. He started to sing before strumming a few chords. Talia stared at him for a few seconds before nodding.

'That was good. Did you write that?' She asked. He nodded.

'You sing.' He said, prodding her with the guitar. She glared at him for a second before taking the guitar. She started to sing Airplanes by B.o.B and Hayley Williams, singing even the rap part of the song.

Blaine stared at her incredulously. Talia smiled shyly at him, looking up through her lashes.

'_That _was singing a bit?' He said. 'We _need _to try out for Warblers! Even if only you get it.'

'I'm sure you would too.' Talia said sincerely. Blaine shook his head.

'How would I if you were auditioning as well?' Blaine said, although he was still smiling.

'Then we'll audition at different times. Not right after one another.' She said. Blaine grinned at her.

'I'll go back now. It's nearly eleven.' He said. He stood up and opened the door by himself, shutting it after himself quietly. Talia didn't move for a few moments, coming off the cloud of being semi-conscious and realizing what had just happened. A boy had just been in her room, and on her bed, close enough for them to just lean a little bit and kiss. This, for Talia was an incredible feat. She had only been kissed by a boy once ever in her life, and that was only last year.

_FLASHBACK_

_Talia sat down in the grass next to Andrew behind the giant oak tree. They laughed as the adrenaline and realization of the degree of seriousness of what they had just done hit them._

'_We shouldn't have done that. Bell's going to be _pissed_.' Talia laughed, imagining just the look Professor Bell would have given them if they had had the nerve to drag themselves back. Andrew laughed and then grinned at her._

'_Does it matter? It's the last day of school anyway. We'll just sneak in before assembly.' He said. His blue eyes sparkled in the sunlight, just like how his platinum blonde hair reflected in the sun. The closeness of their bodies mixed with hormones caused their lips to meet in a simple kiss. Just the meeting of two people, nothing else._

'_Andrew, you do know I'm going straight away tomorrow. Back… home.' Talia whispered, looking seriously at the boy. He smiled sadly at her, tears starting to form in his eyes. He reached up and caressed her cheek, and grinned._

'_Of course. It's been an incredible two years, Talia Reagan.' He said, grinning wider to stop himself from letting the tears flow. 'I love you.' He pulled her up to stand._

'_I love you, Andrew Hayes.' Talia whispered. They stood there under the tree in the afternoon sun, staring at each other for a few moments. Talia vowed to remember this moment forever and remembered every little detail of the scene, taking advantage of her training. With that, they ran off back to the school building, joining the stream of students going to the assembly hall, hand in hand._

_FLASHBACK_

Her heart ached slightly as she thought of Andrew. She hoped he wasn't in danger. At that moment, she felt like a plague that had been put on the earth to destroy everybody that she had met. But it was probably safe for her and everyone else, right? She was even using her real name. She guessed it was.

The next few days, the transfers got settled in at Windsor with the help of Rita, Farrah and of course, Windsor Watch. They were actually accepted quite well within the ranks, being officially deemed 'interesting enough' by even the Twins. The six dressed to their best in their uniform, taking the boys' muscles to squeeze as much gel out of the bottle and the girl's grooming skills to perfectly part and ensnare Blaine's curls into a semi solid meringue-esque textured helmet. Blaine had wanted to look more professional, as he felt as he was short he wouldn't be taken as seriously. As they walked down to Dalton Hall, the building which housed the auditorium, the girls joked about Blaine's hair while the boys patted Blaine reassuringly, telling him he was only doing it for the sake of not getting detention and nothing else. Evidently, his plan had backfired.

'Careful, Blaine, you don't want any leaves to be stuck in the gel, now do you?' Farrah joked. The girls burst into another fit of giggles, not really caring if it was actually funny or not, but laughing only for the sake of it.

'Blaine, whatever you do, don't fall down. Your hair's going to split the pavement!' Talia said, not able to resist laughing maniacally before finishing her joke. Even Blaine started laughing at this, admitting it was pretty funny. As they walked into the hall, their laughter was soon squelched by one sharp glance from Ms Hencher. They sat down in the middle of the Windsor's section of the hall, saying hello to some of the familiar faces that they could actually connect to a name. They all avoided glancing at Blaine's head as even that sent them into fits of ridiculous, slightly hysterical laughter. Their laughter and smiles were immediately stopped when the principal, Mr Rogers came onto the stage, wearing a brown suit and a hideous red tie.

'Welcome back, students, to another year at Dalton. And welcome to the freshmen, transfers, and day class.' He smiled. 'This year, through encouragement from faculty and parents, I would like to announce the opening of two new classes, one of which will be sex education.' The Hall immediately broke out into protests. The teachers standing at the sides shushed everyone.

.'These classes will be compulsory and class hours must be fulfilled if you are to graduate.' Principal Rogers said sternly. 'It has come to our attention that young people like yourselves are exposed to knowledge related to these topics and issues that may not necessarily be true, credible or relevant. In order to prepare you better for the future, we have introduced this class. Possibly to the relief of some of you, the class will only be once a week, hence, classes will last till five o' clock. Freshmen will have theirs on Thursdays, sophomores on Fridays, juniors Monday and seniors Wednesday.' There were more murmurings, things along the lines of 'Great. Sex. Oh yeah, we need to hear about that from school.'

'Now, the other class we will be introducing, is dancing. Which will also be compulsory and counts as an extra gym session. Due to these two new classes, I would like you to welcome our two new teachers, Ms Greene and Ms Black.' Everyone clapped politely, the kind of clap that just said 'we're only clapping because we're being told to'. From the other side of the stage, appeared two women. One of them was short and slightly overweight but had a kind face and the other was tall, dressed in a black wrap dress and had blonde hair that had been pulled back in a tight bun. They smiled and walked off the stage to the day school's section of the hall.

'As usual, Ms Hencher reminds every one of you to keep your appearance orderly during school hours and to behave yourselves off campus if you are still wearing uniform as you are representatives of the school. Our caretaker, Mr Scott wishes to welcome you all and to remind you that your dormitories are your responsibility. It is your responsibility to take your clothes to the laundry room and to keep your uniform clean, and to clean up after yourselves in your rooms. There will be dormitory checks, carried out by your house prefects. You are allowed to take trips into the city on weekends or to visit family but you must be back before midnight on Saturdays if you wish to return and eleven o' clock on Sundays. Classes will start tomorrow. For now, please check your schedules and check with your House masters anything you are not sure of. Off you go, now.' Mr Rogers finished. The students started to file out and make their way back to their houses. As the six Windsors returned to their common room, they found a long line to what looked like a cork board with pouches holding papers on it.

'What are those?' Talia asked.

'Those, are our schedules.' Rita said. They lined up and waited ten minutes for their turn. The pockets were labeled by letters of the alphabet and stood for your last name. Talia found her card in the R pocket and left, scanning it.

'Blaine! Talia's doing swimming and fencing too!' Rita exclaimed, hurtling out of nowhere and hugging Talia. Talia looked up, startled. Blaine stood in front of her, smiling, an eyebrow raised.

'I wouldn't have expected you to do fencing.' Blaine said. Talia laughed once, only somewhat humorless.

'There are many things you wouldn't expect me to be able to do, Blaine Anderson.' She said, a mysterious glint in her eyes.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Discovery?**

The next day, after lunch, Talia changed into the fencing suit that hung in her gym locker, and picked up her own epee, knowing she wouldn't do well if she had to use the school provided ones. But then, someone who didn't know fencing at all would not sign up for this class anyway. She hoped that she wouldn't be the only girl with an epee. She sighed and tied up her hair. _You can't get carried away, Talia. You can't show off. _She told herself over and over again. Personally, she had done things with this epee that would make people in her fencing class keep at least a five meter radius around her. She smiled to herself and walked to the fencing hall.

The first thing that Talia noticed was that there were maybe seven girls and around a dozen boys. She imagined that not very many of the girls would have chosen to do epee. Girls at her old school didn't even _take _fencing. That meant she would probably have to play a boy. She walked up to Blaine and Wes, they had been waiting for her and Farrah.

'Epee? You sure are full of surprises, Talia Reagan.' Blaine said, laughing incredulously. She grinned.

'And don't you forget it, Blaine Anderson.' Talia replied. The teacher, a man who had longish hair pulled back into a ponytail, arrived in the hall.

'Welcome, to Dalton Fencing. My name is Mr Chilton, but I want you to just call me Dave or Mr C. No need for formality in here. However, as I imagine this is a class that you would not take unless you have real interest and talent for, I expect absolutely no nonsense in here. No poking people with your weapon unless you are in a match and always hold your weapon the right way round. Now, please split yourselves up into three groups according to weapon.' They all shuffled round to form the three groups, the group of epees with the least number of people. The epee fighters only consisted of Blaine, Talia and another boy and girl. Dave walked round the groups, setting them tasks. As he came round, he stared at the four before pointing at Blaine and Talia.

'You two are in Windsor, aren't you?' He said, smirking. Blaine and Talia nodded. 'Perfect, you just practice with each other then. The point of the class is to prepare you for the house fencing competition anyway. And you two are in Hilary, am I right? Great. Off you go, then.' The other two nodded, also bewildered.

'I'll go easy on you.' Blaine said. Talia rolled her eyes.

'Don't.' She said, putting on her mask. Blaine put on his mask and after a silent 'go!' they started to fight. Blaine was more forward than Talia, standing her ground and dodging his attacks, little by little forcing him back and finally she dodged to the left and lunged forward, poking Blaine right over the heart, square in the middle of the blood red 'D' embroidered onto the fencing jacket. Talia smiled and lifted her mask, grinning proudly at herself. Dave came around, holding a clipboard.

'Are you Talia Reagan?' He asked Talia, smiling slightly. Talia nodded. 'Well, well done Ms Reagan. Windsor is lucky to have such a skilled fighter in their midst.' He smiled proudly.

'Keep up the good work.' He said. Blaine grinned at her.

'That was _really _good.' He said. 'Your aim is impeccable.' Talia tensed every so slightly. She laughed it off.

'Of course.' She said simply. They put their masks back on and continued like that for the rest of the lesson, they were both strong fighters, but alas Talia was always the quicker one, and only four times did Blaine manage to hit Talia. At the end of the lesson, Dave gave them ten minutes to shower quickly before they all had to go to sex ed. Blaine, the first one done, was trying to redo his hair because a few curls had sprung out the side from the sweat. Talia came out second, her messenger bag hanging precariously off her shoulder while she did her wet hair again, her shirt had been left unbuttoned at the top and untucked, her tie only loosely done and her blazer pushed up to her elbows. She finished tying her hair and put her messenger bag down on the floor next to Blaine's.

'I'll help you.' She said. Taking his comb and gel, she squirted some directly into his hair whereas this morning they had put it on the comb. She used one hand to repeatedly come the curls into place while the other fanned his hair, helping the gel to dry quicker so that his hair would stay in place. In a matter of moments, his hair had reverted back to the unnaturally hard shell that it had been that morning. Blaine looked annoyed.

'If it only took you that long to get it back in order why'd you take so long this morning?' He grumbled, pouting slightly.

'Because you have so much hair, silly. That was only a few curls.' She said, picking up her bag. She quickly did the rest of her buttons and tightened her tie, but left her shirt untucked and blazer pushed up. Talia seemed much more in her natural, witty, mischievous state. Blaine walked behind her and poked her ponytail, which even though it had been done up, still hung to her waist.

'How is it that it looks so puffy and curly even when it's wet?' He said incredulously. Talia shrugged, just as Farrah and Wesley appeared. They raced to the auditorium which was already filled by most of the junior year population. They sat down next to Rita and David, both of which had come from physics class. Finally, Ms Greene appeared on the stage.

'Welcome, everyone, to your first sex education lesson. First of all, I would like to remind you that this is a free speaking space, don't be afraid to voice any of your opinions or concerns. There also will not be _any _toleration of immaturity here. I think you all know very well what I am talking about so I will not go on any further and begin.' She smiled. The projector screen came down and the word 'sexuality' popped onto the screen.

'I would like to begin our lessons, by talking about sexuality. Sexuality, is one's sexual orientation, whether you are heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual. I assume that you know what each of these mean?' She asked. Most people nodded. 'Well, most sex ed courses only cover what sex is like for heterosexuals, here we will cover everything.'

'First of all, I would like you all to know that you all are at the age and stage where you will start to have sexually related thoughts, and some of these thoughts may confuse you. That is absolutely fine and natural, take the time to find out who you are. Having these thoughts is not wrong, or bad. These are only the product of the hormones working in your body. If these feelings confuse you at all and you can't figure them out, talk to a trusted teacher.' She said. Over the hour, Ms Greene went over slightly graphic diagrams and sexuality, making many people squirm in their seats. These included our six Windsors. As the hour passed, their eyebrows moved higher and higher up their foreheads, to the point where they were almost in their hairlines. They all breathed a sigh of relief as Ms Greene finally finished her speeches. The six Windsors made their ways back to their dorms and changed, dying to get out of the strict uniform rules. They trooped down to the cafeteria and their phones beeped.

**CODE RED ALERT: TODAY'S DESERT IS CHOCOLATE FUDGE. WINDSORS, CHARGE!**

Several screams erupted and the whole house ran their way to the door and down the path, making it just in time before the first group of Mayfairs. Two cooks came out of the kitchen, each carrying another two platters of chocolate fudge.

'Take as much as you want!' They yelled, slightly scared by the stampede of sugar-hungry teenagers. Rita, Farrah and Blaine only took two each, but Talia, Wes and David each took four. They all stuffed their meals into their mouths, not tasting it just itching to get through it all to the fudge. They all waited for everyone to finish their meals, to savor the fudge together.

'One. Two. Three!' They all bit into the fudge, moaning about how good it was. Wes and David then proceeded to stuff as many as they could into their mouths, letting it all melt. Talia bit slowly into each piece, letting it melt slightly before impatiently chewing it up. They walked slowly back to Windsor, along with their housemates, all of them gorged on chocolate fudge. Talia returned to her room, all of them admitting all they could do was sit and not move. Talia, however, took advantage of the situation and raced to the showers. She could finally take her time. She worked out the muscles in her right arm, realizing that she hadn't stretched earlier and that there would be hell to pay if she didn't do it now. She returned to her room, still working out the knots in her arm, noticing the slightly eerie quiet that had now fallen on Windsor. Everyone was inside their rooms, making minimal noise. It was possibly the only time that Windsor would be quiet, Fudge Day. Talia was about to settle down to start her English writing task, when she noticed a stray piece of paper. She picked it up, realizing that it had been the other letter in the envelope. Her eyes widened as she saw it was from her parents.

_Dear Talia,_

_It has been a long time, hasn't it, dear? We regret all the time lost that we could have spent together. But we are glad to report that we may be back by the end of next year. Isn't it great, dear? Of course, we will get reacquainted in our house in America. Your brother and sister have returned to it, so if you wish you can go there instead of where you normally go._

_You've grown up beautifully, my dear. From the reports and pictures that we get from Butler Lee, it seems that even without us, you have grown into a wonderful young woman. Hang on, Talia._

_Love,_

_Mom and Dad_

She read the letter as if it were merely a letter she had come across, as if she was a stranger looking in on it. Without having being told to, she burnt the letter. Her parents never said that she should have to, but she wanted to. She didn't want to look at the so called words of affection from her so called parents. Her parents had even kept her siblings apart from her, they hadn't seen each other since Talia was five, and the twins Gabriel and Saoirse were seven. Of course, it was always the same excuse. It's for your own safety and good. She sighed. There was a loud knock on her door. She stood up reluctantly, expecting it to be Blaine. She opened the door to a pair of twins. They had sandy blonde hair and cobalt blue eyes, the highlights in their hair were red and green and had been gelled artfully. They smiled at the same time at her.

'Hi, you're Talia Reagan. We're Blair and Blake.' They said at the same time. Talia stared confusedly at them.

'Which one of you is which?' She asked. The one on the right smiled.

'Blair.' He said. She studied him, finding a difference for her to remember. She found that Blair's eyes were a little greener than Blake's. She smiled.

'Come in.' She said. They walked in without hesitation and sat down on the extra bed.

'What can I do for you?' Talia asked, smiling politely.

'We just wanted to ask you something.' Blake said, smiling charmingly. Talia laughed once.

'Okay, you know what. I'll tell you what you want to know voluntarily, the smiles are not necessary.' She said. They laughed.

'Good. Khu rū̂ h̄ịm ẁā s̄ìng thī̀ c̄hạn phūd? Khuṇ phūd p̣hāʹā thịy? (Do you know what I'm saying? Do you speak Thai?)' Blair said. Talia's eyes narrowed a fraction.

'Chi. (Yes)' She replied. Blair and Blake smiled.

'There's no need to worry. We have the proper means of protection in our room, I have no doubt you do too?' Blake continued in Thai.

'Who are you?' She asked, now ready to pounce. She pretended to fidget and moved on her bed, edging closer to her bedside table. It was obvious that these two were from the same world. All facades were not necessary.

'Think, Talia. You know who we are. What we do.' They said. She furrowed her brows, and then it all came to her.

'We know who you are, Talia.'


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: It Takes Two To Tango**

'_We know who you are, Talia.' _The words echoed in her ears, her head warping the voices into snake-like hisses, whispers in her ears. She tensed even more.

'Your dad's kind of a regular at our company. You're a dealer, aren't you?' Blair said, smiling. Talia nodded slowly. She had always known that her father was a weapons dealer, both to governments and on the black market.

'Don't worry. Your secret's safe with us. We understand your situation. You go to base every holiday. That's hardcore.' Blake said appreciatively.

'You know what, Talia, from today on, you're our little sister. While you're here, we'll protect you. We have bugs _everywhere_.' Blair said evilly. Blake nodded vigorously.

'Of course, your aim and expertise with a gun, or anything sharp, couldn't be matched. We'll help you with more heavy duty stuff.' Blair said. 'By the way, your parents really should be home in no time.'

'I know, they told me.' She said wistfully.

'Aren't you happy?' Blake asked with genuine concern.

'I haven't seen them in ten years. I've just been shoved photos that I'm supposed to feel something about.' She said. Blair and Blake were taken aback by this fact.

'Ten _years? _The most we haven't seen our parents is maybe ten months, right, Blake?' Blair asked his brother. Blake nodded firmly as if he had decided something.

'That's it. You're coming with us to New York for Christmas. We'll invite Blaine, Wes and David. Even Rita and Farrah.' He said, grinning widely. Blair nodded in agreement.

'Definitely David. He's extremely fun to pull pranks on.' Blair said. Talia laughed. 'Blake, let's leave. Before anyone thinks anything weird.' They stood up, stopping Talia when she stood up to open the door for them. She sat back down, wondering how the hell she would be able to do any homework now.

That Friday, Talia was sitting in the brightest alcove that she could find, copying a whole four pages from her gigantic history book on a biography of Louis the sixteenth, in study hall. All of a sudden, a cup of coffee was set down in front of her. Putting the full stop on her sentence, she looked up. It was Blaine. He grinned at her and sat down opposite her.

'It's a mocha. Dark chocolate.' He smiled. She smiled softly and took a sip of it.

'_How _would you know my coffee order?' She asked, setting down her pen.

'You looked like a dark chocolate mocha and no sugar person.' He said. She sipped more of it, smiling slightly.

'How did you find me, then? This entire floor is deserted.' She said. Most people would be in the third year's study hall, although it was not compulsory to go.

'I asked Farrah where you'd went. She said you'd gone off somewhere, mumbling about the sun. So I thought you would be in the sunniest alcove you could find.' Blaine said. 'According to the twins, this is the only alcove with such a large window.' The said alcove, had one window going across the entire wall, underneath was a leather seat, like a large diner seat.

'Twins? Blair and Blake?' Talia asked. Blaine nodded.

'They're nice. But their dad makes guns and stuff, so they're really good with aim. They've got nerf guns.' Blaine said seriously. 'They shot one at David's head through the window.'

'You boys still play with nerf guns?' Talia raised an eyebrow. Blaine shrugged.

'They're fun.' He said.

'So what did you want to talk about? Or…?' Talia asked.

'Warblers auditions are in a week.' Blaine said. Talia nodded. 'They said you can audition as a duo… so… you want to? Sing with me?' Talia opened her mouth to say something but closed it again.

'Sure.' She finally said. Blaine did that awkward exhale and grin combo thing at her.

'What song do you wanna sing?' Blaine asked, sipping his coffee.

'I don't know. Why don't you pick.' Talia said. A bell went off, signaling the end of school, but for the third years, dance class.

'Come on.' Blaine said, standing up. Talia put away her things in her bulging messenger bag and stood up. Blaine held out a hand to her. Talia, slightly bewildered, took it anyway. The jogged down to the gym from Lesley Hall, joining some other third years running to it. Talia changed into shorts and a tank top, much like the rest of the girls, and put on the ballroom shoes that had been provided. She pulled her hair up into a bun.

'Girls! Just put your uniform skirts back on.' Ms Black yelled at them. Talia smiled. This was more like it. After coming out, Black ordered them to get into height order. To her relief and surprise, Blaine stood opposite her.

'Now, your partner for the rest of the year, is the person standing opposite you until I see fit to do otherwise. Understood?' Black asked. They all mumbled yes. 'Good. Let's get started.' Blaine walked over to Talia, smirking. Talia returned his smirk.

'Isn't this a coincidence.' Talia said. Blaine rolled his eyes.

'Oh, yes, only fate could have done this.' He said mockingly. Talia grinned and bumped his shoulder. They crossed their arms, waiting for instruction.

'Now, the first dance that we will learn this year, is the tango.' Ms Black said. There were a few grins and 'yes!'s of approval from the boys.

'Although this dance is quite advanced, I'm sure that if you can get through this one, then you will be able to do anything with your partner. Now, does anyone here actually know how to do this already?' She asked, smiling. A few people, including Talia and Blaine raised their hands.

'Perfect. Now, any of you already partnered and both know how?' She asked. Everyone dropped their hands except Blaine and Talia.

'Splendid. Blaine and Talia, am I right? Why don't you demonstrate for us.' She used a tone of voice that was basically telling you you didn't have a choice. All the other students backed away to the sides of the studio, giving Blaine and Talia a wide berth. The music started and the both of them stepped back from each other, leaving four meters in between them. They closed their eyes and got into the song, Talia recognizing it. When they opened their eyes, there was an unmistakable fire, passion and determination in them. They both stalked forward, arms bent back, legs bent at the knee. They stopped and seemed to be almost preparing to pounce or charge, before surging forward. Talia bent dramatically at the waist, Blaine catching her just as she would have almost fallen. They used each other to propel themselves to the other's original side before meeting again in the middle, spinning before getting into position. This, already had the whole class, and Ms Black, gawking. Blaine spun again, Talia hitching one leg just in time, spinning with him before their feet seemed to battle for dominance. Blaine spun like a top, throwing Talia out before winding her back in to continued their foot battle. They then proceeded to beckon each other, one rejecting the other before going back to chase them. Then, did they only start doing the generic 'slow, slow, quick, quick, slow'. They ended their impromptu dance, with what seemed like an extremely well practiced lift and jump, before Talia landed, her right leg slightly bent in a kind of half split, Blaine holding both of her hands to stop her from sliding onto the floor completely. The class exploded with applause, the sound made only greater by the echoing effect of the large dance studio. Ms Black also joined in, never having seen such an impromptu demonstration in her almost fifteen years of teaching dance.

'That, class, is what you will be able to do in the future if you work hard. Blaine, Talia, show us just the basic steps.' They then proceeded to do a round of the generic tango, people still gawking.

'I want you to try and replicate that with your partner, try and remember every little detail.' She smiled. 'Meanwhile, Blaine, Talia please come over here.' Blaine and Talia followed her to a quieter corner of the studio, away from the group.

'I must say, the two of you, that was absolutely amazing, even if it had been practiced. Would you consider performing this for the Winter festival?' She asked. It seemed that their performance had broken through her icy exterior. Blaine tensed slightly.

'Uh… sure.' He replied. She smiled.

'Why don't you two just choreograph for it, then? You obviously don't need to do all the basic things with the rest of the class.' She said and walked back to the group. Talia looked at Blaine and crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow.

'I don't dance?' She quoted him. He grinned.

'What would be the fun in life?' He asked. She smacked him on the arm. For the rest of the lesson, Talia and Blaine sat on the floor with a piece of paper, brainstorming possible ideas. Talia looked up, looking around for inspiration before spotting Wesley and Rita dancing together and David and Farrah. Talia gawked and nudged Blaine.

'Hey.' She said quietly. Blaine continued to write, ignoring her. 'Oi, Blaine.'

'What, Talia?' He asked, giving up.

'Seriously. Look.' Talia said. Blaine looked up, glancing around before his jaw opened and was staring too.

'Oh, they grow up so fast.' Talia said, wiping an imaginary tear away from her cheek. Farrah, although still three inches shorter than David, was the tallest girl at six feet and one inch.

'This is going to get awkward fast, then.' Said Blaine. Talia nodded. Ms Black then called the class to attention.

'Okay, class, that's it for today. Please remember to stretch, because if you don't your muscles will tighten up and you'll have to smooth the knots out.' Ms Black said. 'Well done today, to all of you. If you want to you can come by anytime to practice after school or on the weekends, if there's no one here already. Off you go now.' They all went back into the changing rooms, complaining about sore or tired muscles. Talia changed into casual clothes, leaving her hair up and skipping the shower because she hadn't really moved that much anyway. She had been the first one out. She fiddled around on her phone when it beeped, signifying a message. Reading the name of the sender, her eyes widened.

_Can we talk 4 a bit? ~A_

She rushed over to the other end of the studio away from the other people waiting for friends, putting the phone to her ear just as it rang. Blaine came out of the changing rooms just in time to see this, he looked at her for a moment, she seemed to be slightly upset. Blaine brushed it off.

'Andrew?' Talia said incredulously into her phone.

'Lia! What time is it over there? Are you only eating burgers?' Andrew said, slurring slightly and laughed tipsily at his joke. Talia furrowed her brows.

'Are you drunk, Andrew?' She asked.

'NO. No, I'm not I'm perfectly fine.' He said loudly. Talia rolled her eyes.

'What do you want, Andrew? We agreed to not contact each other.' She said. She could feel the badly healed cut in her heart being pried open again.

'Li, I miss you. Really. Couldn't we try this long distance thing?' Andrew said softly. Talia heard scraping and a slight crash. 'Ooh, crashed into a bin.'

'You know we can't, Andrew. I can't do this right now. It'll be bad if you call me again.' She said.

'NO. LI- LI. JUS-' He started to yell into the phone but Talia hung up. Praying that for some reason she had forgotten to delete Andrew's mother's number, she successfully found her number.

'Hello?' Andrew's mom answered.

'Mrs Hayes?' Talia asked timidly.

'Lia! What a surprise.' She said, laughing.

'Um, Mrs Hayes, I just got a call from Andrew. He sounded really drunk, if you happen to know where he might have went, it might be good for everyone to pick him up or something. Before he gets into trouble.' Talia said, as carefully as possible. Mrs Hayes gasped.

'Oh, that boy, thank you, Lia. This was so good of you considering you two have broken up. Thanks so much.' She said and hung up. Talia deleted Mrs Hayes' phone number before stuffing her phone back into her pocket. She pressed her palms to her eyes, not believing what had just happened. She took a deep breath and pretended she was herself again and walked over to where Blaine and David were waiting. Blaine shot her a glance, but Talia waved it off. Rita and Farrah finally came out, Talia noticing that their hair was slightly more orderly than normal. They joined Wes and David, giggling and blushing slightly. Talia rolled her eyes, walking a slight distance behind the two pairs of newfound crushes. Blaine looked over at her and smiled, amused.

'Isn't it just _slightly _sickening?' Talia asked. 'How _one _dance lesson is turning our entire year into a bunch of lovesick, horny, hormone ridden fools?' Blaine laughed.

'I think we kind of induced the whole thing.' He laughed. 'Besides, I think it's sweet.' Talia shook her head and pretended to retch.

'Oh, come on, Talia. Once you find love you'll be like that too.' Blaine said.

'I'll never buy this lovey dovey stuff. Like pet names, is being called Pookie really so enjoyable?' Talia said, her face set in a face of slight repulsion. Blaine only smiled. They trooped into the dining hall, most people still groaning about sore legs.

'Does dancing really take that much of a toll on people?' Talia asked Blaine as they joined the line.

'To be fair, we didn't actually really move at all.' Blaine replied, picking up two trays and passing one to Talia. She shrugged. Picking their food, they moved to their usual table, the two couples were sat on either bench already, leaving Blaine and Talia to sit opposite each other.

'That was fun, wasn't it?' Rita grinned. Everyone gave murmurs of agreement into their pasta. 'Your guys' performance was _magnificent_, by the way, absolutely fabulous.' Farrah nodded in agreement.

'How did you even do it? Without practice?' Farrah asked. Wes and David only looked at Blaine and Talia with curiosity. Talia didn't answer, chewing her mouthful of pasta slowly.

'It's all with the eyes. Communication, you know?' Blaine said. They all nodded.

'_How _can you say all that with your eyes? And you two never told us that you could dance like that.' Farrah pressed on. The two of them shrugged.

'It seemed the natural choice. Like, chemistry? An instinct.' Talia replied carefully. She herself was still trying to find a logical explanation for how Blaine and her had done that dance without any preparation or communication at all.

'Chemistry, huh?' Rita said, raising one eyebrow slightly at Talia. Talia seemed unfazed but the slight guilty cheekiness in her eyes gave her away.

'What did Black make you do?' Talia asked, trying to draw attention away from herself and Blaine. 'After the basic steps, I mean.'

'That's basically all we did. I mean, the four of us got the hang of it after a while but some of the others couldn't get it at _all. _Miranda was paired with Lucas and she wouldn't let him touch her.' Rita replied.

'What? Then how did they do anything?' Talia asked.

'They didn't. Ms Black didn't even care anymore.' Farrah replied, shrugging. 'Feel bad for Lucas though.' After they finished, they walked back to Windsor, the sky already uncharacteristically dark for an Ohio summer-fall twilight. They all shivered slightly as a gust of wind blew across, rustling the half-dead leaves of the maple trees in Dalton's mini forest. They opened the door and the natural noisiness of Windsor washed over them, oddly calming. The noise had become the natural atmosphere in Windsor, reminding them of home.

'Maroon 5 party! In thirty!' Someone yelled, notifying whoever it was that had opened the door. People were cleaning up the common room, ridding it of themselves and whatever belongings were there. The transfers looked to Rita and Farrah.

'Party with only Maroon 5 music. Twins are probably behind it but at least they had the sense to choose something a little quieter. They host a party like this every year after the first week of school. Last year was Bon Jovi, you can see where that went wrong. Heard us over in Trillorton.' Rita explained. The girls went back to their dorms, leaving the boys to help move a few couches and get rid of the carpets. They also removed the lamps and put them in the kitchen. Talia had put down her things and switched out her contacts when there was a knock on the door. She sighed quietly. These boys were never going to leave her alone. She opened the door, and as she thought he would be, Blaine stood in her door, grinning and holding his guitar.

'I found the song.' He said.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: To Columbus in a Camaro**

'And what would it be?' Talia asked, letting him in and grabbing her own.

'Falling Slowly.' He said excitedly. 'The American Idol version? I was thinking we could just try it once and do that version, and see where it takes us.' Talia nodded.

'Sounds good. We better hurry before we're bombarded with Maroon 5.' Talia said. Blaine started off singing after a few chords. Talia sang a line before they harmonized, strumming along. They started to sing together as the song picked up. At the parts of the song where the line ended and the singing ended rather abruptly, Talia drew it out, creating a sort of weaving of her voice with Blaine's. The second time it happened, she only drew out the last word for the rest of the line that Blaine sang before joining back in at 'falling slowly'. They then switched verses, Talia singing a verse from the first part of the song, before merging back together. They looked at each other grinning.

'We are so going to get in.' Talia said. Blaine laughed.

'We should have recorded that now that I come to think of it.' Blaine said. Talia was about to reply when the familiar drum starting and Adam Levine's voice singing 'Kiwi' invaded the whole dorm. They laughed and rushed downstairs. People were already dancing in the middle of the common room, a group of about fifteen people stood in a corner singing. They found Rita, Farrah, Wes and David near the edge of the dance floor.

'Who are they?' Talia asked, pointing to the group.

'Warblers. Go join them!' They pushed Blaine and Talia. Apparently, everyone had heard them singing just now. They walked over, the people welcoming them by smiling.

'You wanna sing?' One of them asked. The two nodded. Going to a laptop on a professional DJ table, they started the song again. The group sang together, quieter now, to hear Blaine and Talia. They laughed and danced along, harmonizing. The Warblers were in awe of the two transfers' singing. The next song on the playlist was Back At Your Door, the group put their arms on each others' shoulders and swayed, beginning to sing to the song. They savored the music of their early teenage years. Next was 'Infatuation', they all pressed their fingers to their ears when they sang 'infatuation' exaggerating it. It went on like that, everyone dancing while the group sang. The Warblers, Blaine and Talia stopped singing and joined in the dancing for awhile, before the whole common room sang to This Love.

The next day, the dorm was uncharacteristically quiet until nine in the morning, a record. Talia stood in the deserted common room, dancing slightly and lip syncing to Maroon 5 on her iPod, waiting for the rest of them to come down for breakfast. They had agreed to go into town on Saturday and Sunday, hence Talia took this opportunity to dress like a normal American teenager would, in Forever21. She had chosen a loose, flouncy coral and powder blue plaid shirt with a knot in it, allowing a sliver of her toned stomach to show. With this, she paired navy blue shorts that had suspenders on them and red Converse. Large cat eye sunglasses hung from the neck of her shirt. She felt extremely proud of herself for not going straight to the most expensive clothes in her wardrobe. She always felt like going all out when she was allowed to wear casual clothes and not uniform. Blazers were a stiff cage that didn't allow any more than wrist and minimal elbow movement and were almost always unflattering. Luckily, that wasn't the case with Dalton uniform, unflattering uniforms could never do. In her last school, tweed was something she wore year round. In her opinion, no one should be wearing tweed unless you were over sixty or Mr Bean, or on the floor as a carpet. The world would see less wardrobe malfunctions without tweed. She glanced at her phone. It was 9:10. She sighed and decided to go to the boys first, they would wake up last. She climbed the stairs up to the boys' room. She knocked loudly on the door.

'Blaine Anderson, Wesley Montgomery and David Thompson you will open this door now before I beat it down!' She yelled, putting as much conviction in her voice as possible. Immediately, David opened the door and let her in.

'Talia!' He said surprised. To _her _surprise, the boys' room was fairly neat and didn't stink. All their beds were made and they were all dressed already.

'Why are you still in here if you're all ready?' She asked quizzically.

'These two are trying to dress up but not too up. I've been trying to help them.' Blaine said. Wes and David were only dressed in jeans and tee shirts. Blaine, was wearing a snug v-neck, skinny jeans and black Converse.

'Can you help?' Wes asked.

'You should have come to me first!' Talia exclaimed. 'Have you been only mixing and matching tee shirts?' They nodded. 'Closet?' She asked. They pointed. Talia went over to David's first. She took a light blue dress shirt, cargo shorts and to her surprise, a pair of solid purple Vans. She shoved them at him before charging to Wes' closet. She stared in amazement at the variety before wondering just how he could own this closet and that fashion sense. She took a sleek grey plaid shirt and and shoved them at him, taking a pair of black Adidas.

'Screw the tee shirt and just put this on.' She told him. She turned around and looked at the only safe place, Blaine. She tapped her foot impatiently.

'Okay.' The two of them said. Talia turned around and looked over her handiwork. She smiled and pushed the three of them to the door.

'Go down. I'll go check on Rita and Farrah.' She said. She ran out their door and to the girls' room. She barged in, knowing they would tell her to not have to knock anyway. They too were staring at their reflections, brows furrowed. Without having to explain, Talia went straight to their closets. For Farrah, she picked a floral print romper and for Rita, skinny jeans and a simple, white slub top. They changed quickly and raced down the stairs.

'Did you dress up? We're only going into Westerville.' Rita laughed nervously. Talia resisted the urge to smirk. They walked outside to a sunny, cloudless day. They laughed and talked as they made the trek all the way across campus to the carpark, deciding to skip breakfast. Blaine was slightly drowsy and out of it, obviously thinking sluggishly.

'Did you have coffee this morning? I feel dead.' Blaine said to Talia.

'Obviously I did. One, I got up earlier than you, and two, I would be basically dead on my feet and angry if I hadn't had any.' Talia explained. 'Coffee is like petrol.'

'How do you take it? Dark chocolate mocha?' Blaine asked. He always thought you could tell a lot about a girl by her coffee order.

'Black in the morning. Something less strong in the day, like that dark chocolate mocha you brought me.' She said. He nodded. Black coffee. Straight forward, blunt, honest, sarcastic with nothing to hide. Exactly Talia. From experience, Blaine never lasted more than a month with a girl who drank a light latte every now and then at all hours of the day. Farrah and Rita decided not to drive their cars and to go with David and Wes, while Talia paused.

'I don't have a car.' She said. Blaine looked at her, shaking his head as if there was an obvious answer.

'You'll ride with me. Obviously, even if you did have a license I wouldn't let you drive.' He said. Talia narrowed her eyes at him but followed him to his black Camaro.

'Never took you to be a Camaro guy.' She said, nodding appreciatively. 'Why wouldn't you let me drive myself?' She asked. Blaine smirked slightly.

'Well, you might drive on the wrong side of the road, won't you?' He said. Talia smacked him. He snickered at opened the door for her before going to his own side. Talia had to admit that she had to remind herself to sit in the right side of the car. She put her iPod into his dock and put it on shuffle. The two pulled out of the lot first, making the roundabout with the fountain in the middle before going out the gate. All of them stopping over at the Starbucks, not able to function without caffeine. She was amazed as she watched Blaine revert back to his usual bubbly self. A cup of coffee was all it took.

'Why don't we go into Columbus? There's nothing here.' Farrah said, sipping her latte. They all agreed and got back into their cars. As they drove into Columbus, Talia searched on her phone for the best malls, planning on taking them all shopping, feeling that if they had clothes pre-approved by her, they wouldn't have to get her to style them every weekend. They parked their cars in a parking lot near to a shopping district and got out of their cars.

'I'm taking you all shopping. So that you won't need me.' Talia said, dragging them all towards the stores. All of them looked around nervously, hoping their crush hadn't noticed what Talia had said. They walked into the department store and the girls helped the boys with picking things out. However, they insisted that they could manage deciding whether they looked alright in them or not. Talia and the girls then went off to pick their own. Farrah and Rita frowned at Talia for how many dark colored dresses she had bought.

'I doubt it's healthy to wear so much black, Tal.' Rita said. To make up for this, she also bought an electric blue dress with long sleeves and diamond shaped cutouts in the sides. They quickly decided the ones they had wanted and went to find the boys. Blaine sat on a stool outside the changing rooms, holding a pile of clothes and looking like he was on the verge of falling asleep.

'How are they?' Talia asked. Blaine snapped awake.

'What? Oh, they're still trying things on.' He said and rubbed his face. 'They're taking forever.' In the meantime, Farrah and Rita pranced off to look for accessories. Talia put on her iPod, since Blaine seemed like he was going to fall asleep again. She put on her K-Pop playlist. It was a great pick-me-up if coffee wasn't available. She danced a little to herself, closing her eyes and mouthing the words. She opened her eyes as the song ended, and saw Blaine staring at her, smiling softly. Talia stopped and looked away, smiling slightly guiltily, but couldn't resist the urge to tap her foot.

'What are you listening to?' He asked, smiling slightly evilly.

'Korean stuff.' Talia said. He stood up and walked over to her and reached over her to her left ear to take on of her earbuds out. They were both hyperaware of how close the other was, and it wasn't exactly in the friend zone anymore. Blaine put it in his ear and listened to the song that was playing. It was a slightly technoish dance song, and although he didn't understand a word of what they were singing, it was catchy he had to admit. Talia couldn't resist bobbing her head. Blaine laughed and shook his head, taking the earbud out. Wes and David finally came out of the changing rooms, and had only decided to buy three of the massive pile of clothes they had taken. They trooped out of the store, Wes and David discussing their purchases with each other. They went to a drive thru, Talia claiming although there were ones in London, she hadn't been to one before.

'Why? It's a drive thru.' Blaine said. Talia rolled her eyes.

'Well, that's the problem isn't it? I don't drive do I?' She said. Blaine nodded, slightly embarrassed.

'Right.' He said. They ate as they drove back to Dalton. Talia continued to play her Korean music with the window rolled down. She began singing along, Blaine still having no idea what it all meant.

'Hey, Tal, feed me a fry.' Blaine said. Talia took a fry from the carton on the dashboard and stuffed it into Blaine's mouth. This continued, and then he started to demand ketchup. He purposely slopped ketchup onto her finger.

'Blaine!' She scolded.

'Fine, fine.' He said and licked it off her finger. She made a face and wiped her finger down on his shirt, reddening slightly. She ate more of her own, and to get back at him, she teased him with sucking on her own finger. This seemed to catch his attention. She turned in her seat so that she sat sideways, her back to the window. She ate more fries and pretended to feed him some, wagging them in his face. He pouted at her.

'Are you kidding? Of course I wouldn't give you my chips!' She said, grinning, giggling and popping it into her mouth.

'Now you're just being cute.' Blaine replied, smirking. All too soon, their fun ended and they returned to school. Pulling into the parking lot, they saw a tall, blonde boy and a short girl by a black car. He had her caged in between his arms, pressed up against the car. She looked slightly afraid. Talia gasped slightly as she recognized him to be Logan, the Hilary House epee fencer. He glanced over his shoulder at the group as he heard the racket Wes, David, Rita and Farrah were making. He lifted his arms, releasing the girl and backed away, walking back towards the school.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: The Pinky Unbreakable Vow**

Talia walked up to the girl, who was still coming out of shock, leaning against the car.

'Are you okay? I'm Talia.' She smiled warmly, concerned. The other girl smiled back. She was extremely petite, probably only five foot two, and Talia realized she was probably towering over her just as that guy had been. She stepped back slightly. The girl smiled awkwardly, nervously. It was more like a spastic twitch of her face.

'I- I'm fine. It's Ivy.' She said. 'You're a Windsor, aren't you?'

'Yeah, how'd you know?' Talia smiled, slightly mischievously, the Windsor face. It was the face all Windsors wore when they had been accused of being one.

'I'm in your fencing class. Foil. I, uh, I'll be going now, then.' Ivy said, she grimaced again and sprinted away. Talia watched as her shorter, but still lithe legs carried her swiftly across the large, sandstone paved courtyard towards the Admin building. She walked back towards the group, they had noticed the whole exchange and the girl's jumpy mannerisms.

'That was Ivy Howard, wasn't it, Wes?' Farrah said, nudging Wes. Wes nodded.

'Great foil fighter. A Trillorton. Well, according to Jade.' He explained. Jade Richards was another Windsor who fought with a foil. They walked off slowly across the gate back to Windsor.

'And that was Logan Tore.' David said, slightly in awe. Everyone stared at him. 'We went to the same elementary school until third grade. And now here he is at Dalton.'

'He wasn't here last year.' Farrah said.

'Maybe we should tell someone about this. He looked like he was threatening her.' Rita said warily. Farrah shook her head.

'She was running towards the Admin building anyway. Maybe she was going to tell someone.' She replied, but she seemed to be convincing herself that nothing was wrong.

'Trillorton is behind the Admin building.' Wes said, the answer obvious. 'And what if she gets into more trouble with Logan if we tell? There isn't actually anything we know anyway.' They all nodded reluctantly, there was nothing wrong with Wes' logic. As soon as they got back to the dorm, Talia snuck back out, leaving a note under her door telling them she had gone down to the gym. She had to leave before one of them got to her room. There was no being alone in Windsor. She sprinted down to the courtyard, as Windsor was on a slight hill. She kept in the shadows of the buildings, finally getting down to the sports grounds. She figured no one would be in the dance studio part of the gym. As she walked past the door to the studio and towards the changing rooms, she heard music already coming from inside. She paused and listened. She recognized the song to be Apologize. She rolled her eyes a little. It was the most cliched song for dancing ever. She glanced into the small window in the door. She gasped slightly as she saw a head of longish blonde hair whipping around. It was Logan. She watched as he jumped and spun. Although he was a jerk, terrorist, she had to admit he knew how to dance. His lines were perfect, not a _joint _out of place. The song ended and he picked up his things, trudging to the boys' changing rooms. Talia hurried into the studio, afraid that he would come out quickly. She mulled over him and Ivy and began to warm up. She put her iPod in the speaker and played her K-Pop playlist, figuring it would be good for her to dance something modern and completely ridiculous. She hadn't done so in a long while, in London she had only done ballet. After warming up, she decided the best place to start was doing the dance from the music video of the song. She continued the exercise, dancing all of the dances of the music videos of the songs that came on. After a full hour, she stopped and lay down on the floor, stretching her legs. The playlist stopped and the room was drowned in silence. Talia hummed to herself, the silence starting to press on her ears. She finished stretching and stood back up. That was when she noticed Blaine in the doorway.

'SHIT!' She exclaimed. 'Are you a pervert or a ghost?' She yelled. He laughed lightly and strode into the room.

'You came down here to dance like a Korean girl band?' He said, standing next to her. She let her hair down from her bun and shook it out.

'No. I came down here to think and be alone. Since privacy does not exist in Windsor.' She said. Blaine didn't say anything and continued to stare at the floor as they walked out of the building. Talia realized what she had said.

'That's not what I meant!' She said quickly. 'I guess I'm just used to being alone. Really, Blaine, I like your company.' He looked back at her and grinned.

'Did you really think I would get hurt so easily?' He said. She shoo her head incredulously and punched him in the arm. 'Why would you be alone all the time?' He asked. He found it quite hard to believe. Someone like _Talia. _Always alone.

'It was just… convenient.' She said carefully. Her eyes told him all he needed to know. She didn't want to talk about it.

'And what was that phone call about, Talia?' He asked. 'You seemed distraught.' Talia sighed.

'My ex.' She said. He raised an eyebrow. 'First boyfriend. We broke up because I moved here. And now he's doing alcoholic impressions every other night. He's getting rather good at it.' Blaine nodded sympathetically.

'Would you get back together? Would you do the long distance thing?' He asked. Talia shook her head vigorously.

'I could never do that to him or myself. To me, it's like hanging on to a past. A past I don't necessarily need, you know? I mean, I could never move forward if I decided that I'd had enough of the world and married the guy I met in year eleven. And what if I come to like someone here? What if he comes to like somebody over there?' She said. 'I couldn't let Andrew hang on to someone like _me._ He's too good for that. And I already donated him to my best friend.' Blaine raised an eyebrow.

'Donated?' He asked. Talia smiled airily.

'Obviously, she's not my best friend anymore, is she?' She said.

'What do you mean by someone like you?' Blaine asked. Talia kept mentioning, hinting at that she wasn't a good person, that she wasn't everything she appeared to be. She smiled mysteriously.

'Well, for one, I keep moving every few years. I've lived in four places before this, Blaine. I don't know where I was born, I don't know my parents and I live the sad reality of being brought up by a nurse and butler. I haven't seen my brother and sister in ten years. I don't even know where they are.' She said, smiling sadly and laughing once at how ridiculous her life -even to her- sounded. 'I don't really keep any friends because it would be bad for everyone and I'm only fifteen.' Blaine nodded, taking this all in.

'Well, Talia Reagan, I officially sign up to be your life-maker.' He said, turning to her and grinning. They were walking up the small slope to Windsor now.

'Life-maker?' She said, raising an eyebrow.

'I will give you all the experiences that you should have had by now and missed, and I will make your life a better one. Consider me your self appointed best friend for ever, confidant, non-gender parent, stylist and best girlfriend. And I promise to never, _ever_ walk out of your life voluntarily.' He said, and turned to her as they reached the door. He held up his hand and stuck out his pinky.

'Pinky Unbreakable Vow.' He said seriously. He walked around the front of Windsor and finally, picked up a stick. They clasped pinkies and pressed their hands together as best they could. He drew lines around their joined hands.

'I, Blaine Everett Anderson, promise to be the life-maker -qualities stated above- of, Talia Antoinette Faye Reagan, for as long as we live and old age does not erase each other.' He said. Blaine drew a few more lines before they let go. Talia giggled at the ridiculousness of what they had just done. But she appreciated it too. She smiled gratefully at Blaine.

'Best girlfriend?' She raised an eyebrow, grinning mischievously.

'Hey, I grew up in San Francisco.' He said, defending himself. He opened the door and immediately, an explosion sounded. Blaine grabbed the fire extinguisher nearby and threw it at Yoonsung just as he rushed into the room, black-brown hair giving off the impression that something had exploded in his face. He shook his head.

'Why don't you bring your guitar to my room? We'll practice there for once.' He said, grinning. She smiled.

'Sure. I'll shower first though.' She said. Blaine nodded.

'Of course.' He said and headed back to the boys' dorm. As soon as Talia was sure that Blaine couldn't possibly see, she raced up the stairs and to the showers. She hastily washed her hair and let the sweat run off of her. After drying herself and braiding her hair over her shoulder, she raced back to her room, willing herself to not crash into anything as she wasn't wearing glasses or contacts. She literally dropped her things, grabbed her guitar and rammed her glasses onto her face and raced across the hall to the boys' dormitories. She slowed as she got within a five room radius of Blaine, Wes and David's room, willing her heart to calm down. She knocked. After a slight thump and 'ooph! Ah, shit!' from inside, Blaine opened the door, breathing deeply, as if he too was trying to calm down.

'Talia! Sorry, I just knocked over a pile of David's laundry.' He said. He let her in and she sat down on the bed she remembered was his. She watched as Blaine meticulously refolded David's clothes, all the while muttering 'he's going to kill me…'. He finished up and joined her on his bed, picking up his guitar.

'Are we going to record it?' Talia asked. Blaine nodded and reached over her, his elbow resting on her knee lightly, to get his laptop from his nightstand. He opened the lid and opened Garageband. Again, he started off first. And sang:

_I don't know you_

Talia joined in with her guitar and sang the next line, before they joined together. The song picked up and they traded lines in the verse just before the chorus.

_And games that never amount To more than they're meant Will play themselves out Take this sinking boat and point it home We've still got time Raise your hopeful voice you have a choice You'll make it now_

As they sang, they read more into the lyrics, understanding the writers' feelings. Their voices melded together to become one vessel that carried the song, easily hitting the high notes, able to hold the notes for a long time and enjoying the beautiful melody. They finished, and like last time it was slightly awkward.

'That was even better than the first time.' Blaine said. Talia nodded in agreement.

'I think we should maybe prepare a song by ourselves too. You know, just in case?' Talia said. Blaine nodded.

'Already got that covered.' He grinned.

'What are you going to sing, then?' Talia asked.

'It's a surprise.' He replied, smiling cheekily. Talia stood up to leave.

'I should get going. I have so much homework from History. Mr Georgio's a menace.' She said. Blaine shot up from the bed, putting down his guitar. Tentatively, slow enough for Talia to stop him, he leaned in to hug her. She didn't respond as she was holding her guitar.

'Life-maker also means free hug-giver.' He said quietly. Talia laughed nervously and put a hand on his shoulder. She smiled and let herself out. She walked slowly back to her own room, screaming in her head, _what the hell did that mean? What did that in the car mean? _As she got back to her room and was fiddling with her key, Rita and Farrah burst out of their room and dragged Talia into it, guitar and all.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: The Shoe Maker's Son**

Talia yelped and turned around, easily breaking free of their hold. She put down her guitar and shut the door, glaring.

'What was that for?' She demanded.

'You went out. Blaine went out. You came back together.' Rita smirked.

'David texted me.' Farrah explained, smirking too.

'Nothing is happening.' Talia said, sitting down on Rita's bed. The other two sat down on Farrah's, feeling like they should be sitting opposite Talia for her interrogation.

'Is it not true that he comes to your room _every night_?' Farrah asked, raising an eyebrow and biting her lip to keep from grinning too widely.

'Yes, but that was only to practice for Warblers auditions.' Talia said.

'Well, according to the boys' you've been singing Falling Slowly.' Rita continued. Talia turned to her.

'Blaine picked the song. I'm sure it was only because it could showcase our voices well.' Talia said. It now sounded like she was trying to convince herself that there was nothing between them.

'Maybe he was trying to tell you that he likes you.' Rita said.

'We've only known each other for a _week._' Talia protested, fiddling with the corner of the blanket.

'I don't know you, but I want you.' Farrah quoted the song, crossing her arms over her chest and raising an eyebrow. Talia flopped backwards on Rita's bed and closed her eyes.

'Oh my god.' She breathed. Rita and Farrah squealed and jumped over to Talia's sides.

'This is great!' Rita gushed. 'You suit each other so much!'

'Has he told you anything?' Farrah asked, still grinning.

'He's made himself my life-maker.' Talia said, smiling softly. The three girls didn't say anything for a moment as they all caught the innuendo in it.

'Life-maker?' Farrah asked, raising an eyebrow.

'Best friend for ever, confidant, non-gender parent, stylist, best girlfriend, and hug-giver. Catch me up on any experiences I should have had by now.' Again, they caught the innuendo.

'Aww.' The two smiled.

'That's kind of romantic.' Farrah smiled. Rita nodded.

'He made the Unbreakable Vow.' Talia smiled and laughed airily. The smiled dropped from the two's faces.

'You two are a couple of nerds.' They teased. Talia smiled.

'I thought it was sweet.' Talia said quietly. The two sitting up smiled at each other.

'Talia Reagan, from right now on, us two are going to aid you in any efforts you make to get Blaine.' Rita said. Talia sat up.

'I've only known you two for a week too.' She said, smiling softly. Rita leaned in to hug her.

'Yeah, well, friendships progress faster when you live with your friends.' She laughed. Talia laughed. Farrah leaned in to join in the hug as well.

'Hopefully that's true for romantic relationships too.' She said. Talia smacked her back. Suddenly there was a bang on the door.

'Girls! Come on! We're hungry!' Wes yelled. They sighed and got up, shaking their heads. Talia opened the door to find the three boys pouting slightly and glaring. She laughed.

'Hunger is not to be laughed about.' Blaine said, narrowing his eyes. They walked down the path and across the courtyard to the student welfare building that housed the cafeteria, in-campus clinic and laundromat. After they got their food, they sat down. Talia spotted Logan with a burly boy who was best described as just the all-American boy. Blonde hair, blue eyes, football player's build. Talia stabbed at her lasagna, tired of having to eat pasta or spaghetti.

'Hey, Rita, do you know who that is? With Logan?' Talia asked. Rita glanced back and her eyes widened slightly.

'Logan's friends with Marcus Tent, Far.' Rita whispered furiously. Farrah choked on a piece of broccoli but turned around to see Logan and Marcus walk towards the Hilary side of the cafeteria who's inhabitants were mostly Hilarys.

'He's a _Hilary._' Farrah whispered furiously to the four transfers they looked quizzically at her.

'Hilary and Windsor are infamous for having an ongoing war for the past, what, hundred fifty years? Hilary and Windsor have always hated each other since the house first started, it's only gotten worse recently. They're like the Gryffindor and Slytherin of Dalton.' Rita explained.

'And what is this war you speak of?' Wes asked, mischief lighting up his eyes.

'Just pranks. Usually led by the twins.' Rita said. At the mention of the twins, the six gasped and jumped slightly as the said twins appeared quite suddenly.

'We can explain more. If you want.' Blair said mischievously. They moved down the benches to squeeze two more Blair and Blake sized seats.

'So every year we just keep pranking each other until the teachers stop us or we get tired of it.' Blake explained. 'But most of the time, the teachers don't really care until someone actually got hurt. Property damage doesn't even matter.'

'How far did you get?' Talia asked.

'Well, last year we painted their windows black. And we may or may not have set five puppies loose.' The twins said.

'Puppies?' David raised an eyebrow.

'Oh, they might sound harmless but they did enough to tick the Hilarys off to try and break into our dorm.' Blake said.

'Their efforts were admirable but Charlie and the rest of the prefects put in an alarm system on the door that only allows Windsors to come in and out at night.' He continued. 'So they were busted before the jocks managed to smash through our door.'

'That was the only time that the teachers cared. They were concerned that the jocks could have hurt themselves while trying to smash through it.' Blair said.

'What if you smash their windows?' Talia asked.

'We'd get scolded and detention but nothing serious if nothing happened to them. It'd probably be all right because our window glass is all laminated glass, so even if it broke it shouldn't hurt anyone.' Blake said.

'Would you happen to know anything about Logan Tore?' David asked. Blair and Blake smirked.

'Why, of course we do!' They said, smiling at David.

'Logan Tore is the son of an Italian shoe maker. The brand is extremely expensive and all the shoes are handmade, one of a kind. His dad's rumored to be part of a gang or related to some black market bully or something like that. We don't know that much about him. But, one thing we're sure of, he has issues. He takes medicine for depression.' Blair explained. 'He should be harmless. Why do you ask?'

'We saw him harassing a girl from Trillorton.' Blaine said.

'If he's being medicated then he can probably be dangerous.' Rita said warily. Farrah looked horrified at the situation.

'He is. Apparently the side effect to the anti-depression is violence. So if Logan gets riled up, then he'll be dangerous. And apparently he had a short temper to begin with. The eight friends walked back to Windsor after dinner, all quite quiet. They couldn't help but be mildly spooked by how dark it was already getting when it was only seven. The sun wasn't even supposed to set yet. They hurried up the slope and into the dorm, which was relatively quiet as many people were still making their way back from dinner. All of them went to their rooms, needing to finish homework. Talia however, had managed to finish everything in study hall. Talia walked into her room, brows slightly furrowed. She had a nagging feeling that she knew Logan Tore, or had at least heard of him before. She found her sketchpad and a pencil and began to draw a head of hair. As she drew, she thought about all the things she knew about Logan. _His dad's rumored to be part of a gang or related to some black market bully or something like that… _Gang. Related to the black market. If that was true, Talia _must _have heard something about a man named Tore. _Son of an Italian shoe maker… _Shoe maker. His dad was a shoemaker! She shot up and went to her desk. She opened her laptop and thanked god for Google. Into the search engine, she typed 'Tore Shoes'. Immediately, millions of reviews and pages about the handmade brand opened. Clicking on the first result, to a shoe blog- she decided to know a bit about them first.

_Hey guys! Shoe Guru's back! _

_So, as you know, I was in Italy for two weeks this summer, with my boyfriend! And what better place to get a pair of snazzy leather shoes than in Italy? So, when we were in Milan, we found this little shop that sold handmade leather shoes. The name was Tore Shoe Tailors Co., they make these magnificent shoes from imported Spanish leather. My boyfriend bought a pair of black dress shoes for around 3000 euros. Pricey, yes, but a reasonable price for the great quality! This is great for guys, however, there are a few female designs, including boots, dress shoes and a few high heels. Although the color range is not very large, the material and sleek finish will definitely make up for it! _

Hmm. Talia thought. Looking around the page, she found a link to the website of Tore Shoe Tailors. Clicking it, she waited for the page to load. The page came up as a background of bright red leather with gold stitching spelling out _Tore Shoe Tailors Co. Since 1894. _Talia pursed her lips appreciatively and clicked the _GO _button. Immediately pressing the _Tore Origins _page, she found a page with three portraits on it. She looked at the names, and read the biography of the last one:

_Logan Antonio Tore III_

_Is the current owner of Tore Shoe Tailors Co., and has been since 1998. He designs and hand makes only the limited edition shoes, such as the most current crystal-leather S-19, only one pair per size. His confirmed successor, will be the apprentice he deems the most worthy out of the current five, and not his son._

She sighed. This was helpful, she thought sarcastically. They had the same name. _But what if it's a fake name… _She pondered, staring at the 1998. She was five that year… that was the year her parents had gone… the year she moved away from Switzerland. It all rushed to her, she remembered _everything _she had ever heard about the Tores. She almost let out a scream but bit into her hand. This was it. She couldn't hide it anymore. She had to tell someone.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Reveal Your Heart**

On Tuesday afternoon, Talia and Blaine sprinted from their literature class in Dalton Hall back to Windsor to retrieve their guitars. They pounded up the stairs to their rooms and literally dropped their bags and slung their guitars over their shoulders. They rushed out and ran across the courtyard towards the auditorium building. They spotted Wes and David, who had made their way straight here after class, as they hadn't had any instruments to play.

'Hey, they've just announced that all auditions have to be done without music.' David said, looking with pity at the panting pair, leaning on their knees.

'What? We ran all the way here for nothing?' Talia asked, slightly furious. Wes and David nodded sadly. Suddenly, the sound of heels clicking on wood echoed through the auditorium, breaking through the layer of whispers. Mr Woodward -to the transfers' surprise- and a petite woman with ash blonde hair wearing a grass colored flowing dress stood on the stage smiling.

'Welcome, everyone to the annual auditions for the school acapella choir group, the Warblers. My name is Mr Woodward and I am one of the directors of the Warblers. Now today, you will not be allowed to use any music while auditioning, as if you do get into the Warblers you will not be using music anyway.' Mr Woodward said, smiling.

'Hello, everyone, my name is Ms Shay. One thing that we are changing this year, is that if you are auditioning as a duo, then you will also have to go through solo auditions if you make it through the duo auditions. If you feel you might not be so comfortable doing that, then you may leave.' She smiled.

'Let's get started then! Now, will everyone please take a seat and all duo groups please come forward.' Mr Woodward said. Talia and Blaine left their guitars with Wes and David and went on the stage. There were only two other duo groups. One of which, was Charlie and Miranda.

'Mr Lentley, what are you doing here? You're already in.' Ms Shay said, furrowing her brows.

'Oh, I'm only helping Miranda with her audition.' Ms Murphy glanced down her nose at Miranda, as if she was something unpleasant stuck to her wall.

'Very well.' She sighed. 'Then you two may go first.' Miranda happily skipped to the middle of the stage, Talia and Blaine walked to the edge with the other couple. Miranda started off first, and immediately everyone recognized Need You Now. Talia listened, unimpressed. Miranda was a very average singer. She could sing, but in the way that you would here it as a person singing along to their favorite song. Their song finished, and Miranda stood there with a proud smirk on her face as if she expected no one would be better than her and that she would definitely get in. The rest of the people auditioning clapped politely, the kind of clap you heard at school assemblies. She bowed and skipped off the stage. Even Charlie didn't seem too impressed.

'Okay, uh, the second pair… ah! You two there, boy with the glasses.' Ms Shay smiled, leaning forward on the desk. A boy that Talia recognized from her history class who always sat in the back walked up with a short, pleasantly plump girl. They started to sing Lucky, by Jason Mraz. Their voices mixed well and created a harmonious, clear sound, like a bird call. Different, in a fresh way, from Talia and Blaine's loud, powerful sound. They finished and everyone clapped. The door in the back opened, and in walked the Warblers from last year. Talia spotted Kylie, the spunky blonde cheerleader, who although fitted all stereotypes, was extremely sassy and witty. Kylie waved exuberantly, but was calmed down by her brother, Kyle. A be-spectacled, tall boy who was a bit lanky and had sandy blonde hair, different from his sisters natural golden blonde. Both reduced themselves to beaming. The rest of the warblers smiled in anticipation to see what Blaine and Talia would do. Wes and David grinned to one another. They were the only ones who had actually heard the two singing their piece.

Blaine started off and immediately, Talia followed. They played their guitars in their heads, remembering the chords and the notes. As Talia sang, she looked at Blaine. _Really _looked at Blaine. She sang with all her heart, trying to really feel the song, think about how she would feel in a situation like it. She stared at Blaine's eyes, scrunching and un-scrunching as he opened his mouth wider to accommodate the louder, longer notes. She read his eyes, as if she was unknitting a scarf, picking out each individual stitch. Talia realized that he had sincerity in his eyes, like he was screaming out at her to listen to the song. As Blaine watched Talia, sang to her, though she didn't know it, he saw realization dawn on her. As if a film of fog had been wiped away from her eyes, a veil removed. Blaine smiled just enough so that it showed ever so faintly while he sang. As the song finished, and the one and final harmonized note ended, the Warblers burst into applause, even the others auditioning clapped loudly. Blaine and Talia beamed at each other and the crowd, bowing slightly before scurrying off.

'Okay, so the pairs that made it through are Ben and Stacey, and Blaine and Talia. I'm sorry, Miranda, that was a great song but not up to our standards.' Ms Shay announced. Blaine and Talia squealed silently to one another.

'We will now move on to solo auditions, if you would all line up. Remember, it doesn't matter what you sing. Just do it as loud, and as powerful as you can.' Mr Woodward said. Blaine and Talia shuffled to the very end of the line of twenty people, silently communicating with their eyes that they needed to talk.

'I saw that.' Talia said quietly to Blaine, smirking softly, while looking at the person auditioning.

'I noticed.' Blaine said.

'I'm not good for you, Blaine.' Talia said. Blaine was almost annoyed by the fact that Talia couldn't get it in her head that it didn't matter to him. He grabbed her hand and turned her to him. Talia was startled by Blaine's sudden harshness.

'A nice guy like you deserves more than me.' Talia said, an almost age old sadness in her eyes.

'Get it in your head that nice guys might not always want a nice girl.' He said. He had a fierceness in his eyes, on the verge of anger. Talia noticed this incredibly. But she didn't back down, she was happy that she had finally fished a reaction out of him. The fierceness both scared and drew her in to him.

'And who ever said I was a nice guy?' He added, letting go of her hand.

'We've only known each other for a little under two weeks.' Talia said. They shuffled forward as the line shortened, not looking at each other.

'Does that really matter?' Blaine asked. He was surprised at himself. Before this, he had always taken it slow with girls, only making a move when the hints she dropped were so obvious to the point where she could have been waving a flag and screaming at him. It was like an out of body experience, the instant attraction he had to Talia emotionally and physically. To the 'old, normal' Blaine, this would have immediately triggered the image in his head of getting married in Vegas. But the other side of him, liked this 'new, more exciting' Blaine. Spontaneous, not afraid to feel things.

'Well, yes, it kinda does.' Talia said sarcastically. She couldn't believe she was being so calm about this whole thing. In her mind's eye, the way she should have reacted was immediately kissed him after they finished the song, as if they lived in that Hilary Duff movie, a Cinderella Story.

'I'll make a bargain. We'll get to know each other better while we date. As if I met you in a coffee shop.' Blaine said. In his head, he imagined a devil and angel Blaine, the angel bugging his eyes and gesturing as if to say 'What the hell, dude?', the devil standing there, with his arms crossed over his chest, rolling his eyes. Talia thought for a second.

'Fine. Deal. Let's see how this goes.' Talia said, crossing her arms. She mentally slapped herself upside the head. She was going to start this relationship with a bargain. _As _a bargain.

'Seal it with a kiss?' Blaine offered, hopefully. Talia looked at him and smirked, rolling her eyes.

'Don't push it, buddy.' She said. Slowly, they listened to each one of the auditions. Many of them were good but not an extreme 'OH MY GOD.' good. Finally, it came to Blaine and Talia's turn. Talia let Blaine go first, remembering her promise. He got onto the stage and immediately started to do a faster, rock version of Man in the Mirror. Everyone fought the urge to clap along. Talia saw him in a whole different light now. After his outburst of slightly more negative feelings, she remembered that Blaine. She found that that was the Blaine that was on the stage. The sexy, dangerous, attractive singer. He finished the song, his voice echoing off the walls slightly. Talia clapped exuberantly, beaming. He smiled and walked off the stage, joining Wes and David. Everyone started to talk for a while, discussing Blaine's performance. They were still talking when Mr Woodward and Ms Shay nodded Talia onto the stage. Talia ignored the talking crowd and started. She sang one single word: there. Her song was Rolling in the Deep, but she had changed the beginning of the song to play to her strengths. She breathed one deep breath and belted out the opening 'there' for a total of thirteen seconds, like Christina Aguilera. Immediately, the crowd stopped talking. Talia continued the song, singing as loud as she could. Her voice resonated throughout the hall, even without a mic. She finished the song with one final note, again lasting only, but a still impressive, nine seconds. At this point, she was getting light headed and was panting slightly. She bowed and walked off the stage slowly, not really trusting herself at that moment. Everyone realized that when she was sing Falling slowly, it was maybe only taking up a third of her extensive lung capacity. She sat down next to Blaine, not saying anything. Blaine squeezed her hand.

'That was _incredible_.' He exclaimed.

'Magical.' Wes corrected.

'Other. Worldly.' David said, settling everything. Talia could only grin, still slightly out of breath.

'So, after careful deliberation, we have only decided to put six of you through. Those are Blaine Anderson,' Wes, David and Talia beamed at Blaine, who was gawking in shock. 'Ray Bailey, Wesley Montgomery, Edith Norman, David Thompson, and Talia Reagan.' Ms Shay smiled knowingly as she said the last name, as herself and Mr Woodward had already decided to put her through in the first five seconds of her 'there'. The four friends hugged each other, laughing almost ridiculously in their exuberance of their own good fortune and the fact that they had all gotten through.

'Congratulations to all of you who made it through, practices are on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Warbler Hall, in Pierce Hall. See you all then.' Mr Woodward said. No one was really paying attention to him. The people who hadn't made it were filing out of the auditorium quickly. The existing Warblers made it over to Blaine, Talia, Wes and David.

'Oh my god! You lucky bitches!' Kylie squealed and hugged the four of them, her springy blonde curls bouncing around her heart-shaped face.

'Congratulations.' Kyle said, beaming, keeping a hand on his sister's shoulder to stop her from jumping around _too _much. Talia and Blaine introduced the rest of the pack of jumping, excited Warblers to Wes and David, who all acted like they were high on sugar. They all made their way down to the cafeteria as they talked and laughed. Eventually, Kyle, who apparently shepherded the pack of them, called them off to leave them to Rita and Farrah. They seemed to be sitting on the edge of their seats, waiting in anticipation for their return. As they set down their trays of food, they stood up expectantly.

'We all got in!' They said. Rita and Farrah jumped to hug Wes and David. Blaine and Talia sat down across from each other and began eating, glancing at each other from time to time.

'You should have been there to hear Talia, though.' Wes said, grinning. Blaine nodded in agreement.

'It was absolutely magical.' He said. The two girls raised an eyebrow at Talia.

'Well. I-' She started.

'She held a note for thirteen seconds. Enough said.' David cut her off. Rita and Farrah's eyes bugged out of their sockets.

'_Thirteen seconds?_' They screeched incredulously.

'Miranda tried out.' Talia said.

'And failed miserably.' Blaine finished. 'It sounded more like she was singing for her shower head.'

'That's what I thought.' Talia said. Rita and Farrah raised their eyebrows at Wes and David and glanced at Blaine and Talia. The two boys nodded slightly, confirming the two girls' suspicions. After dinner, of finally something other than pasta, they walked back to the dorm, along with the rest of the Warblers, who all coincidentally were in Windsor. All except for Ray and Edith who were in Mayfair, Windsor's ally. Talia and Blaine, who had been carried by the crowd to the back of the group, dawdled in front of the door.

'Come to my room. When you're done with stuff.' Talia smiled. Blaine nodded. Talia ran inside and up the stairs, once again showering as fast as she could. She ran back to her room and bothered to dry her hair. She sat on her bed, her nightstand slightly open so that she had easy access to… _it. _As she expected, Blaine knocked on the door just as she had settled down, discovering he had a knack for that. She opened the door and smiled softly, letting him in before closing the door again. He walked over to her bed and sat down like last time.

'We should talk.' Blaine said.

'That's what I wanted to do.' Talia said. She hoped with all her heart they wouldn't go down the "who are your parents" road.

'What's your favorite color?' Blaine asked Talia.

'Green.' She replied.

'Purple.' Blaine said. She raised an eyebrow slightly. 'Hey, I was born and raised in San Francisco.' He defended.

'Favorite food?' Talia asked.

'Sushi.' He answered immediately. Talia smiled.

'Kimchi.' Talia said, smiling fondly. Blaine furrowed his very triangular eyebrows. 'Korean fermented vegetable dish.'

'The red vegetable thing?' Blaine asked and made a face. Talia nodded.

'Where have you lived?' Talia asked.

'I used to live in San Francisco. When I was twelve I moved to New York and then I moved here this year.' Blaine replied, lying down.

'I was born in Switzerland.' Talia started, leaning against the headboard. Blaine turned his head to look at her. 'And then I was sent to Thailand, Korea, London, and now here.'

'My dad's a music producer.' Blaine said. 'Mom's an actress. Theatre.'

'My parents sell weapons. And something else I don't exactly know.' Talia said carefully.

'My brother, as far as I know, is in California.' Blaine said quietly. 'His name is Shane.' Talia didn't reply, instead fiddling with her fingers. Blaine turned his head to face her, silently asking why she wasn't speaking.

'Blaine, I have to tell you something. Something _important_, something you need to know if you really want to do this relationship thing. That you'll need to know, because you'll eventually find blank spots.' Talia said, looking at him seriously. Blaine nodded slowly.

'My parents work for the CIA, and they've been tailing this Mafia group. To keep my siblings and I safe they send us to odd corners of the world where they wouldn't think of finding us. I've lived in all those places under fake names. Every holiday, I go to Arkansas where there's a training base for agents. I go there to learn how to defend myself. To _kill _people in the blink of an eye. I've been trained since the age of seven to handle a _gun._' She said, looking at him with her eyebrows raised. Blaine took her hands in his, noticing they were shaking.

'I'm _not a good person._' Talia whispered, imploring for Blaine to see it with her eyes. Blaine cupped her cheek and brushed a thumb under her eye.

'You are _not _a bad person just because you know how to use a gun.' He said, staring seriously into her pale green eyes. There were tears in them, colored by fear.

'You are _you _because of things that are way, _way _bigger than you. Things that you can't control.' Blaine said, feeling as though he were talking to a scared, small child who was scared to death because of the idea of ghosts. Talia still looked extremely unconvinced, the tears began to fall, getting too heavy.

'It's _not _your fault.' Blaine said, louder now, stressing every word. Tears fell rapidly from Talia's eyes. 'I'm not letting you put yourself down, Talia. You're too good for that.' She laughed once humorlessly.

'_You're _too good for _this._' Talia said. 'You're too good to be dealing with my shit, Blaine. You should be off serenading some girl.' She said, smiling.

'Haven't I already done that?' He said, smirking, raising an eyebrow. Talia laughed.

'I mean, you shouldn't have to be dealing with my problems when you could just be sympathetic, move on and find a girl you want to chase.' Talia said. 'I'm sure plenty would.'

'I'm three inches taller than you only.' Blaine said. 'Isn't that kind of short? No one would date me.'

'Yeah but you're hot.' Talia said. Blaine raised an eyebrow.

'You think I'm hot?' Blaine said slyly.

'Well, yeah.' Talia said bluntly.

'Well then, we're going out on a weekend.' Blaine said. 'It's settled.'

'Haven't I just _cried _in an attempt to get you _not _to?' Talia asked.

'I'd rather be murdered by these people knowing that I've dated you rather than not having so many regrets.' Blaine said. Talia raised an eyebrow.

'You're willing to do this for a girl who you've known for _two _weeks and who very well could be crazy and making this all up?' Talia said incredulously.

'Instant attraction, remember?' Blaine said. 'I don't want to die with regrets.'

'I would have been a regret? To not date, I mean.' Talia asked.

'I would have regretted never getting to know you better than a friend.' Blaine explained. He squeezed her hands again before getting up to leave.

'Thanks, Blaine.' Talia said. He turned around, smiling softly.

'Don't worry about it.' He said, and left, closing the door behind him. Screwing homework, Talia collapsed onto the bed, falling asleep quickly on top of the covers.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: First**

The juniors of Dalton Academy piled into the auditorium building, bracing themselves for their fifth round of extremely graphic images -possibly inappropriate- and pubic hair overload. Their previous month of sex ed lessons had resulted in a few people vomiting. The six Windsors only gawked at the pictures, wondering whether or not this was even _legal _to show to teenagers.

'Oh my god, I can't take more of this.' Talia said, exhaling hand on her face.

'I want to _die._' Blaine said. The two had now developed the habit of going out on weekends together, and had been for the past month. Rita, who sat in the middle, now carried a small bucket, in case any of the six felt the urge to vomit.

'Is it honestly legal to even show us all of that? It's basically porn.' Wes said.

'Dude, it's just wrong.' David said, shaking his head. 'Either way.' Ms Greene came onto the stage, smiling. Talia fought the urge to just stand up and throw something at her and yell 'You think this is funny?' at her.

'Today, we will continue our discussion of STDs from last week.' A collective groan arose from the hall. They had been showed picture after picture of herpes last week. They continued with the pictures, everyone groaning. Ms Greene scolded them for being immature, when really everyone was just disgusted. Talia, who was especially effected, grabbed the bucket from Rita and promptly vomited into it. She had prepared for this, having tied her hair up already. Everyone near her looked back sympathetically. Blaine rubbed her back soothingly. Mr Woodward, who had been supervising the Windsors, walked down and took the bucket in one hand and beckoned for Talia to follow him to the nurse. Farrah grabbed the bucket back from him and vomited into it on top of Talia's. Everyone winced, and made a face, finding this mildly disgusting. All the while, new pictures kept coming on and the lesson continued. Farrah then gave the bucket back to Mr Woodward and followed Talia out.

'Those pictures are a bit disgusting, aren't they?' Mr Woodward said, looking back at the two girls now clutching each other.

'A bit? Is it even legal?' Talia asked.

'Honestly, I wouldn't have taken you to have been the type to vomit so easily, Talia.' Mr Woodward said, as they entered the cafeteria building and walked up to the second floor for the clinic. Mr Woodward opened the door to find two students already being tended to by Mrs Woodward.

'Joshua?' Mrs Woodward looked up and smiled. She was extremely beautiful. She had dark blonde hair that curled in large waves, and blue eyes, the only description doing her justice was like an old Hollywood actress, from the black and white films. She wore a white doctors coat over a peach colored blouse and black pencil skirt.

'These two vomited during sex ed.' Mr Woodward said, grimacing. He held up the bucket.

'I'll just go take care of this.' He said. Mrs Woodward smiled at the two girls.

'Why don't you sit down and I'll get you some water to rinse your mouth out?' She said. She finished off with the two other students, one boy one girl. Mrs Woodward went into a back room and came back out with two cups of water and basins.

'An awful lot of you have been coming up here during sex ed.' She said, smiling kindly. 'Is it really that gruesome?'

'It's like watching porn except everyone in it has herpes or crabs or some form or another of STDs.' Talia summed up, rinsing out her mouth and spitting.

'Really?' Mrs Woodward said curiously.

'We've just been shown pictures of rashes for the past two lessons.' Farrah said grimacing. 'I honestly wonder where Ms Greene's getting these pictures.'

'Is it even legal?' Talia asked Mrs Woodward. 'They have _literally _been showing us pictures of people _doing _it.' Mrs Woodward raised a perfect manicured eyebrow.

'Then that's questionable. You're just juniors, aren't you?' She asked. The two girls nodded. 'I guess it should be all right. If your teacher's been showing you all this. Do you still feel queasy or unwell?'

'Not really. I think it was just the shock.' Farrah said.

'Then why don't you head straight to the cafeteria? There's only ten minutes left of your lesson and I don't think it would be good for anyone to go back there.' Mrs Woodward smiled. Farrah and Talia walked downstairs to the cafeteria, where the rest of the school had already started to file in. They sat down at their usual table and waited for the others to come in. Eventually, all of them walked in looking in shock and petrified. Rita and Wes were leaning on each other, while David and Blaine walked slowly and in shock. They arrived at the table after getting their food and sat down.

'So, how was it?' Talia asked Blaine.

'It was _horrific._' Blaine said. 'They showed us videos of people giving birth. Like zoomed in right on the vagina, and watching the head come out and hearing all the screaming.' He held his head in his hands. Talia patted his arm sympathetically.

'It's like they're scaring us into not having sex.' David said, poking at his potatoes.

'You would only get STDs if you have sex with a lot of people or have sex with someone who's had sex with a lot of people.' Rita said. 'So that's irrelevant. But showing us that half an hour of that woman just screaming and watching the baby being pushed out. Ugh.'

'I am scared for _life._' Wes agreed. The four retold everything that had happened in the lesson, going into detail as they walked back to Windsor. Other people joined in the conversation, hearing that someone was talking about it. They returned to their rooms, and Talia and Blaine got ready for their nightly ritual. Every night, Blaine would go to her room, as he had to share his with Wes and David.

Blaine was happy with where he was with Talia. He had made his point extremely clear, he wanted them to be an official item. Blaine still sensed Talia's hesitance, still not sure if this was the best for him. She had been, however, letting him in more. And for some reason, that day, Talia had voluntarily touched Blaine first. He always made his affection for her clear, in simple touches. Letting their fingers touch when possible, a hand on her back. She had, that day, patted Blaine's arm and let her fingers linger on his hand. Blaine changed into his pajamas, which were now a pair of Dalton swim team sweats and hoodie. He and Talia had tried out for the swim team after Mr Trenton, their swimming teacher recommended them. Blaine walked over to Talia's room with a spring in his step and knocked animatedly on the door. Talia opened the door wearing a Warblers' sweater that was five sizes too large, the sleeves reaching the first joint in her finger, the neck so wide that it clung precariously to her shoulders and so long it reached to the middle of her thighs. She smiled and took Blaine's hands in hers, pulling him into the room.

She closed the door with her foot and stayed there for a few moments, seeming like she was hesitating, debating whether or not to do something. Blaine didn't say anything, sensing her hesitation, waiting patiently by, smiling softly. Talia let go of Blaine's hands and stood up on tiptoe, becoming slightly taller than him. She put her arms on his shoulders to steady herself and clutched the hair at the back of his head with her fingers. She leaned forward quickly, pressing her lips gently but with a steady force to Blaine's lips. Blaine responded after a millisecond, taking a moment to register the fact that he was indeed kissing Talia and to happy dance in his head. He smiled softly against her lips and supported her back to help her to keep tip-toeing. They broke away, lungs burning -even with their combined singers' and swimmers' lung capacities-, to take a breath for a short moment, foreheads rolling off each other before they joined in another lip lock. Talia pushed Blaine back gently against the door and jumped up to encircle his waist with her legs. He caught her instinctively, this was a move they had practiced in their tango routine. They didn't let go until they couldn't take it anymore, their lungs screaming out in protest. They rested their foreheads against each other and waited for their breathing to return to normal.

'I'm falling for you, Anderson.' Talia whispered, smiling softly and looking down into Blaine's eyes. She noticed they seemed greener now, the light from the room shining into them. He set her down and brushed her cheek with his thumb, smiling tenderly.

'I get you.' He said. They held hands, walked over to her bed and lay down side by side. They stayed like that for a long time, falling asleep eventually. Blaine woke up abruptly. He looked over to Talia's desk seeing her clock read ten fifty, he got up as gently as he could. He picked Talia up easily, surprised by just how light she was. He slipped her under the covers, successfully not waking her up. He smiled and let himself out, closing the door with a soft click.

The next afternoon, Talia didn't bother putting her things back in her bag, but gathered her journal and binder and raced out of literature class and across the courtyard to Warbler Hall, meeting Kylie along the way.

'Why are you smiling like that, Tal?' Kylie asked, raising an eyebrow, her lip curling into a knowing smirk. Talia broke out into a grin.

'I kissed Blaine last night.' She confessed. She hadn't told anyone yet, but now that Kylie asked, she answered. Kylie squealed.

'Was he good?' She exclaimed. Talia shushed her, afraid people would think she had _done _it with someone.

'I've only been kissed one other time in my life, so I don't think I'm one to judge, but it _was _amazing.' Talia said, grinning like a fool, she bit her lip. She took out her phone to text Farrah and Rita, knowing they'd kill her if they found out any other way.

_**We kissed last night. ~T**_

She texted to them and stuffed her phone back into her pocket. Within seconds, it buzzed.

_**OMG. SRSLY? WE R SO HAPPY 4 U! ~R & F**_

Kylie laughed as she read the text over Talia's shoulder.

'_They _sure have been waiting for you two to get together.' Kylie giggled. The two girls walked into the Hall, finding groups of Warblers lounging around on the couches placed around the room and on the floor. They found Kyle with Blaine, Wes, David and Charlie sitting in an incomplete circle on the floor, waiting for them. Blaine was on the edge, evidently, they had all heard about their kiss last night and had planned this. Talia sat down, her fingers intentionally brushing Blaine's casually. Blaine looked up and smiled at her.

'Woodward and Shay not here yet?' Kylie asked. Kyle shook his head.

'It seems they are otherwise engaged.' He raised an eyebrow suggestively.

'Ray and Edith rushed in here three minutes ago saying they saw them by the art department talking quite heatedly and near to each other. _Kissing distance._' Charlie said, smiling slyly.

'I don't see Miranda here.' Talia said, raising an eyebrow. She leaned back, supporting herself with her arms like Blaine, letting her hand touch Blaine's ever so slightly. Miranda had made a habit of following Charlie to Warblers' practices, hoping that eventually Mr Woodward and Ms Shay would let her in.

'I made her go back.' Charlie said, pressing his lips into a line. The usually quiet Warbler Hall door, decided then to creek as Mr Woodward and Ms Shay walked in, both looking slightly disheveled. Mr Woodward smiled at them all.

'Good to see that all of you are here already.' He said. The students merely stared at them.

'Today, we'll discuss our set list for the Winter Festival, that as you all know is coming up in a short two months.' Mr Woodward started.

'Since last year was such a big hit, we want to do the same and vote two soloists, and two duets. Now, for our new students, last year we nominated our singers by voting. In the event that the people nominated don't want to do it, then the role will be passed to the person who had the second-most votes.' Ms Shay explained. She passed out slips of paper with the parts printed on it. Immediately, everyone set to scribbling the names of their favorites down. Talia put down Kylie and Charlie for the solos, and then Ray and Edith and Lily and Charlie for the duets. She folded up the paper and put it into the bowler hat that they were using to collect the votes. Everyone had put their votes in and sat in excited anticipation.

'Who did you vote for?' Blaine asked her.

'Kylie.' She replied. Kylie smiled at her.

'I voted for you.' Kylie said.

'I don't have a Christmasy voice.' Talia said, shaking her head.

'You could do one if you wanted to.' Kylie said, raising an eyebrow.

'Yeah, I could but you _already _sing like an angel.' Talia said. Kylie rolled her eyes at this. But she did. Mr Woodward and Ms Shay shushed them all.

'Our soloists, are Kylie and Charlie!' Mr Woodward grinned and clapped. The group clapped exuberantly while Kylie beamed at Charlie.

'Our duets, are Ray and Edith and Blaine and Talia.' Ms Shay smiled and clapped demurely. Blaine and Talia grinned at each other and hooked their fingers together.

'Decide what song you will sing and tell us so that it doesn't clash.' Mr Woodward smiled.

'Baby, it's cold outside!' Talia and Blaine said loudly before Mr Woodward could even turn around and let them think.

'Last Christmas!' Ray and Edith shouted from the back of the hall.

'What song are you going to sing?' They all asked Kylie and Charlie.

'Jingle Bells.' Charlie said, smiling. They all laughed and shook their heads. Kylie was quiet.

'I think you should do O Holy Night, K.' Talia said, smiling. Kylie smiled.

'I thought about doing that one but I don't know if I can pull it off.' She said worriedly. Blaine rolled his eyes.

'Of course you can.' He said. She smiled softly.

'Really?' She asked them all. Kyle rolled his eyes.

'You sang it at church two years ago and you were fine.' He told his sister. She smiled and bounced off to tell Mr Woodward and Ms Shay.

'How did you know I was going to say 'Baby, It's Cold Outside'?' Blaine asked Talia. She smiled.

'You seemed like the kind of person that would have wanted to sing that.' She said. Blaine smiled at her, a look in his eyes saying he definitely would have kissed her if they hadn't been in public.

'Judging by the song choices that you all have, Charlie will be first, then Ray and Edith, Blaine and Talia and then Kylie to close the show.' Mr Woodward said.

'We've decided that only Kylie will have us backing her, to keep with that churchy, gospel feel.' Ms Shay said, everyone nodded.

'So, Kylie, if you're okay with it we could try it now.' Mr Woodward said. Kylie beamed.

'Of course.' She said. She got up and stood in the front of the Hall and closed her eyes and started to sing. With Kylie's usual bubbly, sassy personality, her singing was definitely a contrast. Her voice was sweet and refreshing, like a sip of cool spring water. Ms Shay directed the girls, getting them to start to harmonize. As she hit a high note, Mr Woodward conducted the boys, getting them to softly start harmonizing with Kylie. After a break in the song, they started to echo her quietly so that she could still be heard. Talia smiled as she sang. This was why she loved singing in a choir, no matter she was singing the solo or in the back. She was always amazed at the powerful, harmonious sound that they made. The last few notes of the song Kylie belted out, as the others harmonized, making the already powerful notes seem even more powerful. She finished the one final note, her voice lowering in volume to a quiet hum. Everyone clapped loudly, Wes, David and Kyle even whooped and wolf called. Kylie beamed and bounced back to the group. Ms Shay and Mr Woodward smiled.

'Well, evidently, you all chose right.' Mr Woodward chuckled. 'That's the end of our rehearsal, don't be late on Thursday. Blaine and Talia, I want you to be ready for next Tuesday.' Blaine and Talia had traded Thursday's Warblers practice for swim training, also their Monday, Tuesday and Friday mornings.

After dinner, Talia changed into her Warblers' sweatshirt and stretch capri pants, having already showered twice that day. She walked over to Rita and Farrah's room. She knocked and the door immediately opened. Rita grabbed the sleeve of Talia's shirt and dragged her into the room.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: Shiny New Barbie**

'Why didn't you tell us earlier?' Asked Farrah excitedly. Even after the whole month and a half her and David flirting and crushing on each other, neither of them had worked up the courage to do anything yet. The same went for Rita and Wes.

'I needed the personal satisfaction.' Talia smiled and sat half-lotus next to her. 'I texted you two when I was reminded of that fact when I was going to Warblers.'

'Was he good?' Rita asked, sitting on her bed.

'I've only kissed one other guy, but I'm guessing he had to have been pretty amazing.' She replied.

'Did you kiss him first or did he?' Rita asked.

'I did. I think he was waiting for me to feel comfortable enough with him. Didn't you notice he always tried to make as much contact as possible?' Talia asked. Farrah smiled.

'So _that's _what that was. I'd thought you two were already fucking.' She said bluntly, giggling at her own directness. Talia laughed.

'I think I would have told you if we _had _done it.' Talia said, still laughing. 'Any luck with those two?'

'David held my hand in English.' Farrah bit her lip to keep from grinning too much. Other than Talia, all of them had opted to take the standard English class that didn't go too deep into texts. Literature class analyzed all of the texts they read in incredible detail and had students write pieces every week as homework.

'Thats great!' Talia exclaimed. Rita nodded. 'What about you and Wes?'

'Wes seems to think that you have to work all the way through the friend zone to get to anything.' Rita said, sighing.

'Why don't you take charge and kiss _him _first?' Talia asked.

'I'm not as brave as you, Tal. And what if _he _likes being the one in control?' Rita said, thinking of all the excuses she could to use next.

'Obviously he doesn't -or won't- because he's been dragging this out on your sweet ass too long.' Farrah said. Talia nodded. Suddenly, a knock came from their door. Talia got up to open it, thinking it was Blaine, and was therefor surprised to see Charlie.

'Hey, Charlie.' Talia smiled. Farrah and Rita waived to him.

'Hey. I forgot to tell you at Warblers that there's a new transfer coming through soon. Maybe as soon as Thursday or something.' Charlie said, smiling. 'Looks like you'll be getting an -at least- temporary roommate then.' Talia grinned.

'Do you know her name?' She asked.

'Uh, Quinn. Quinn Fabray.' He replied. 'I think she's from Lima.' Talia raised an eyebrow.

'She's actually _from _here? That's even more exotic than being from Hawaii or something.' Talia said, looking back at Rita.

'Oh, and for some reason Wes and David told me to tell you that Blaine should be coming down in about five minutes.' He said quizzically and left. Rita and Farrah pushed Talia out the door.

'Go!' They hissed. They didn't close their door until their knew Talia was inside hers. A mere minute later, Talia heard the knock on her door. She grinned and bit her lip. She opened the door, and Blaine stepped in quickly closing the door behind him before cupping Talia's cheek, pulling her by the waist to him and pressing his lips forcefully against hers. She cupped the side of his head, her thumb on his earlobe. He was letting go, thinking better of his decision to just come in and attack her. But no. Talia held on to the hair that she could reach on the side of his head, keeping him there for three more seconds before both of them decided to let go with an audible smack.

'Hey.' Blaine said slightly breathlessly.

'Hi.' Talia replied.

'You do realize that after last night, you voluntarily kissed me, I'm not going to even _try _and control myself when we're alone.' He said.

'Yeah, but is that a bad thing?' She said. Blaine surged forward again, kissing her slightly more tenderly now.

'I've been trying not to kiss you since study hall. I wanted so much to just go to your alcove and kiss you there for ages and ages.' He whispered.

'I wanted to drag you there with me.' Talia replied. She dragged him to sit down on her bed as he leaned in for another kiss, meeting nothing but air. They lay down side by side again.

'Cheer tryouts are tomorrow.' Blaine said. 'Are you going to try out?'

'I would like to, but don't you think I've got enough on my plate already?' Talia said.

'Of course you can do it. You're Talia Reagan.' He replied and squeezed her hand. Talia laughed and turned her head to face him.

'Thank you for having so much faith in me but I don't think I could very well just go in there and say 'I'm Talia Reagan. So I'll be joining the team now.'.' She said. He turned his head, smiling. He Leaned over to kiss her again.

'I'm _addicted _to your lips.' He whispered, his face just far enough for his lips to brush hers when he spoke. Talia let him plant another kiss on her before getting up.

'Come on, Blaine. Why don't you go enjoy sleep when you have it?' Talia said, tracing the tender skin under his eyes, colored purple from lack of sleep. Blaine sighed and got up.

'Swim training's getting to you. Don't stay so late with me if you're too tired.' She smiled softly. He smiled back and got up, opening the door and looking back at her before closing the door quietly. Talia sat down at her desk, figuring she should start on her homework before she got too tired. And just as she expected, the minute she got down to do something, she was interrupted by a knock on the door. She sighed and got up to answer it. She opened the door to find Charlie and a blonde girl. Her hair was curly, like Kylie's but longer, her eyes hazel rather than Kylie's icy blue. She was wearing a cheer leaders' uniform but it said WMHS across her chest.

'Talia, this is Quinn. Quinn, this is Talia your room mate. Earlier than expected.' Charlie introduced. Talia smiled down at Quinn. She was at least three inches taller than her.

'Hi.' Talia said. 'Charlie why don't you go back? You look dead on your feet.' Charlie had had to deal with two explosions and his hair was still slightly damp from a water gun attack from the twins. He nodded and left.

'Why don't you come in?' Talia smiled. Quinn said nothing but walked in. Quinn put down her suitcase next to the bed and stared at it.

'It's clean. I make it every morning.' Talia said. Quinn sat down and sighed.

'Cheer leading tryouts are tomorrow. Just so you know.' Talia said and sat down at her desk again, starting to type something up for literature class.

'How did you know I was a cheer leader?' Quinn asked, her signature suspicion look on her face.

'Well, you're kind of wearing a cheer leading uniform.' Talia laughed. Quinn chuckled at her own stupidity.

'Are you going to try out?' Quinn asked, walking around the room she opened her desk and closet.

'Maybe. But I have enough to do anyway.' Talia replied, making a note to herself in a notebook to pick up supplies from the art department tomorrow.

'Like what?' Quinn asked, starting to unpack.

'I have swim training Monday, Tuesday and Friday mornings and then one more on Thursday afternoons. Warblers practice on Tuesday afternoon. And then if I do cheerleading as well then I'd have practice on Wednesday afternoon which means the only day where I'm free is never.' Talia said, sighing.

'Warblers?' Quinn asked.

'Glee club.' Talia said. Quinn perked up. 'You used to do glee club in your old school?'

'Yeah. We only made it to sectionals last year, though.' Quinn said, sighing.

'Oh, so you're from McKinley.' Talia said, nodding in understanding. She nodded.

'I had to beg my cheer leading coach to keep this.' Quinn said, sighing and changed into her pajamas.

'What made you come here?' Talia asked, sitting down on her bed opposite Quinn. She hesitated. Talia huffed a laugh.

'I'm sure you won't feel so bad when I tell you why I came here.' Talia said. Quinn sighed.

'I came here because people in my old school found out who I was.' She said, looking Talia in the eyes. 'I used to go to Belleville High School and then I transfered to McKinley. My real name is Lucy Fabray. I used to be fat and ugly and brunette.'

'I went on a crazy diet, started doing ballet and gymnastics. When my dad got a raise, I asked for a nose job. And then when I found out I was moving to Lima, I dyed my hair just in case.' She finished. 'And last year, I got pregnant and I was kicked out of my own house. My mom kicked my dad out after she found out he was cheating on her and now I'm back.'

'I expected something along those lines.' Talia said nodding.

'Why did you come here?' Quinn asked. Talia smirked mischievously.

'I'll tell you sooner or later. Don't want to scare you.' Talia said. Quinn rolled her eyes.

'I swear I won't tell if you won't.' She said. 'If it's really serious then I'll keep quiet.' Talia stared at Quinn. She looked like the type to keep quiet about secrets, she had so many herself after all. Talia nodded.

'Don't scream or freak out, okay?' Talia said. Quinn nodded. 'My parents work for the CIA, and they've been tailing this Mafia group. They sent me here for the last leg of their mission. Before this I was in London and before that Korea and Thailand. I know how to use a gun, quite well I might add, and I happen to have one right now. Quite a few.' Quinn gaped.

'I don't believe you. Show me the gun.' She said, raising an eyebrow, daring her. Talia reached back and opened her nightstand, reaching easily for the gun. She took it out, the black metal glinting in the light of her lamp. Seeing Quinn's alarm but also curiosity, she took the bullet cartridge out.

'It's real.' Quinn breathed. She reached forward and stroked the barrel.

'Why would I lie to you? About something like this?' Talia asked. 'I would have had to tell you eventually. What if you opened my drawer?' Quinn shrugged as Talia put the gun back in her drawer.

'Must be hard for you and your boyfriend.' Talia said to Quinn. Quinn smiled sadly.

'I don't have one.' She said. Talia raised an eyebrow.

'Well, then, Charlie seems to be ready to jump on you.' She said. Quinn raised her own eyebrow.

'So _that's _what that was.' She said.

'That was similar to his Miranda face.' Talia explained.

'Who's Miranda?' Quinn asked quizzically.

'Charlie's girlfriend and Windsor's resident bitch.' Talia said. 'She'll definitely try to make a friend of you. But whatever you do, don't. People will hate you automatically if you do.' Quinn nodded.

'Do you have your schedule?' Talia asked.

'Yeah.' Quinn replied and took it out of her bag. 'I have Spanish first period.'

'Oh. French is right next door, I'll walk you.' Talia said. Quinn raised her eyebrows.

'You have French here?' She asked. Talia nodded as if it was obvious.

'Didn't you see it when you were choosing your classes?' Talia asked Quinn, narrowing her eyes. Quinn shook her head.

'I'm just taking the classes that I took in McKinley. They didn't bother to let me choose because I was transferring so fast.' Quinn said. She made a 'what the hell' face.

'I think Farrah takes Spanish.' Talia pondered. Quinn furrowed her eyebrows.

'You have got to stop telling me about these people.' She said, shaking her head. Talia smiled.

'You'll meet them tomorrow at breakfast. Assuming you want to, of course.' She said, getting up to turn down her bed. 'Now if you don't mind, I'm going to enjoy the fact that I don't have to get up at five thirty.' Quinn nodded and turned down her own bed. Talia slipped under the covers, sighing. She reached over to turn off her lamp and turned onto her side, facing her desk. She fell into a blissful sleep, comforted by the fact that she wouldn't have to fence or swim tomorrow. Quinn, meanwhile, lay in bed for a long time. She was in a new school, and she wouldn't be on top anymore. That, was a problem.

The next morning, Talia jerked awake at five thirty, expecting the shrill noise of her alarm clock she lay back down when she realized it was Wednesday and she didn't have to wake up early. She dragged a hand down her face. _I can't do this anymore_ she thought. It had only been the first month of being part of the swim team and she could already feel herself breaking down from the exertion. On the up side, she was in the best shape of her life. Her already toned muscles had become even more in shape, her stomach now beginning to show faint outlines of a six pack. She closed her eyes again, but was annoyed to find a red glow that could still be seen in the left of her 'vision'. She opened her eyes again. She had been so caught up in waking up that she hadn't noticed Quinn awake. She sat at her desk doing her hair by the dim light of her lamp.

'Oh my god, Quinn. You're doing your hair at five thirty.' She said groggily and got up, beginning to stretch. She had made a habit of doing a full stretching routine in the morning, finding it easier to do it everyday and not lose flexibility.

'Why are _you _up already?' Quinn asked, taking a strand of hair and imagining it curly to see what she wanted that day.

'I can't sleep like a normal person anymore.' Talia explained. 'I wake up at five thirty by default because I have to half of the week.'

'Let me do your hair, then.' She said, straightening her hair instead. Talia laughed once.

'Don't even try because it's not going to work.' Talia said. Her hair would forever be curly and annoying the hell out of her unless she soaked it in straightening chemicals for a whole day.

'Honey. I'm Quinn Fabray.' Quinn said, smiling confidently. 'I can do _anything _with hair.'

'I don't care, Quinn, I'm not going to let you.' Talia said, sighing as she slid down into a split.

'Suit yourself.' Quinn shrugged.

'Meanwhile, maybe you could help Blaine.' Talia said. Quinn began to talk but Talia cut her off. 'Blaine's my boyfriend, he has really curly hair, even worse than me. And he's been hell bent on trying to gel it down but it just comes out feeling like a helmet.'

'Hmm. Remind me to maybe look into it.' Quinn replied. The two girls continued to converse quietly, Talia doing all sorts of stretches and yoga. It was only when she did a handstand for fun did Talia notice the Jesus figurine on Quinn's desk.

'You're Christian.' Talia stated. Quinn nodded.

'Are you?' Quinn asked.

'I'm Buddhist.' Talia replied. She folded up like an accordion, folding at the knees and curling into a ball. 'C'mon. It's seven thirty, if you don't start getting ready Rita and Farrah will blow the door down.'

'What have I been doing since five thirty?' Quinn asked, getting up as she finished tying a Dalton blue silk ribbon into her perfectly straightened Barbie-blonde hair. Talia put on her uniform, not bothering to tuck in her shirt, do her tie properly or leave her blazer sleeves down for once. Whereas Talia was the image of trouble with her unruly dark hair and seemingly sloppy attitude to school, Quinn was the image of female teenage perfection. They walked out of their room, Quinn carrying a tote and Talia had her worn out leather messenger bag hanging precariously as usual from her shoulder. It was almost comical how they were polar opposites of each other in appearance but had to live together. The boys were waiting in the common room for the girls as usual, their uniform undone like Talia. As the two girls walked up to the boys, they all stared.

'Boys, this is Quinn Fabray my new roommate, hailing from Lima, Ohio.' Talia introduced, casually brushing Blaine's hand with her own. They all grinned at Quinn, fooled completely by her goody too shoes image, not a _stitch _of her uniformout of place. Quinn smiled politely, although amusement was blatantly obvious in her eyes. They always fell for it.

'I'm Wes.' Wes said, coming forward and smiling friendlily at her. She shook his hand delicately. Although Wes was _way _into Rita, he couldn't deny that Quinn was beautiful in that Barbie sort of way. David smiled and shook her hand too.

'I'm David.' David grinned his large unnaturally white teeth at her.

'I'm Blaine.' Blaine said, grinning his warm friendly smile. Quinn perked up and raised an eyebrow, saying hello and smiling but all the while staring at his hair.

'So you're Mister Helmet-hair.' She said, her smile quivering as if she was trying not to break out into a smirk. Blaine glared at Talia.

'Really, Tal? After what we have between us?' Blaine said, pretending to be hurt. Talia laughed and patted his cheek a little too hard.

'Oh, Blaine. You know I meant well. It really is ridiculous for you to walk around with that menace on your head, B.' Talia said. 'Quinn here, happens to be a self proclaimed hair guru.' Quinn rolled her eyes but smiled good-naturedly at Talia.

'Hardly _self _proclaimed.' Quinn said, grinning.

'She was up since five thirty doing her hair.' Talia explained. Blaine glanced at her, slightly concerned that she hadn't been able to wake up at a normal time. The bruises under his own eyes, however, seemed lighter already. Wes and David engaged in their morning stare-fest at Rita and Farrah as they came down the stairs. As they approached, they grinned at Quinn.

'You must be Quinn.' They grinned. Quinn smiled back.

'You must be Rita and Farrah.' Quinn replied, glancing rapidly between the two.

'I'm Farrah.' Farrah said, she stuck her hand out, towering over Quinn as she did so, like the BFG. Quinn shook her hand.

'I'm Rita.' Rita replied, grinning. She hadn't worn her glasses today, taking a suggestion from Farrah. She hadn't actually needed them in the first place.

'Can we go to breakfast now?' Wes grumbled. The girls rolled their eyes. As they left Charlie ran up to them.

'Quinn! Uh, just wanted to tell you that cheer leading tryouts are today. You said you wanted to do that, right?' He asked. Quinn smiled at him and nodded. He grinned. 'Well, uh, you look great, by the way.' Quinn blushed slightly. Talia patted Charlie's arm, silently telling him he didn't have to try so hard. Just then, a scream came from the stairs, none of the Windsors flinched or jumped except Quinn.

'What the hell was that?' She asked, eyes wide in alarm. Talia was about to reply when Miranda pounded down the stairs.

'REAGAN! Stay away from my Charlie, you bitch!' Miranda shrieked. 'And you. He's mine, Barbie.' She said, turning on Quinn. Quinn didn't reply, extremely startled by this whole mess.

'Who are you calling bitch, you whore? Everyone knows that all the fuck you want Charlie for is a free hall pass.' Talia seethed, standing in front of the group. Miranda stepped back slightly, frightened by the loathing and rage in Talia's piercingly clear green eyes.

'Who are you calling whore, Reagan?' Miranda spat, pouting and clutching Charlie's right arm. Talia scoffed.

'What makes you think I want Charlie?' Talia said. 'No offense, though, Chaz.'

'None taken.' Charlie muttered.

'He goes to your room _all _the time! Don't you dare lay a _hair _on him!' Miranda shrieked. Talia scoffed. and turned around, pushing the door open with unnecessary force and began to storm out. Miranda, not satisfied that she hadn't won the argument, pulled roughly on Talia's long hair while dragging her nails down her forearm, drawing blood. Talia's head jerked back but she didn't scream or yell or have any reaction at all. She turned slowly around, completely livid. The group stepped back slightly, Farrah pulling Quinn away from Talia. Even Charlie left Miranda's side. Talia handed Blaine her bag, still staring at Miranda. Miranda had been smirking, as if to say she had won, but was now showing slight fear as she watched Talia. Talia stepped back and whirled, her right leg shooting out so that her foot collided with Miranda's arm. Miranda shrieked and fell to the ground, clutching her arm.

'You're lucky that wasn't my heel.' Talia said and turned, reaching to Blaine for her bag. 'You shouldn't bruise too much. At least your bones are intact and not broken.' Miranda didn't reply, still clutching her arm indignantly. The entire population of Windsor who had been watching from the railing on the upper floors, burst into applause, whooping and cat calls. Rita and Farrah took one of Talia's arms each and took her out the door before Miranda could retaliate or anything. The boys rushed out after them, Wes grabbing an astonished Quinn's wrist, she had still been staring at Miranda who was now shrieking at Charlie. Blaine took Talia instead, she was still fuming.

'Tal, you're bleeding.' Blaine said, taking her right arm in his hands. Scarlet drips of blood dripped from four cuts running diagonally across her forearm.

'Ri! Far! Do you have tissue or something?' Blaine yelled back to the group. They were animatedly discussing Miranda's defeat, explaining things to Quinn. Farrah tossed him a pack of tissues. The cuts were already starting to scab up.

'Does it hurt?' Blaine asked, tenderly dabbing at the blood. Talia shook her head.

'I've shot myself in the leg before, Blaine. Nothing compares to that.' She said absently. Blaine looked up at her. She seemed to be coming down from her anger.

'Are you going to tell Woodward or Hencher?' Blaine asked, letting go of her arm.

'No. But if Miranda does, I have the advantage. She actually made me bleed.' Talia replied. 'I'll keep my blazer sleeve up all day and everyone can see what she did.' Blaine didn't say anything. Talia glanced over at him.

'Are you angry?' Talia asked quietly, suddenly much more timid than the person who had kicked Miranda Gray. Blaine snapped up.

'Why would I be mad?' Blaine asked, smiling softly. He took her hand in his.

'Aren't you going to be all jealous and be like a movie and ask me if Miranda was right or something?' Talia asked, her fingers playing a beat on the back of his hand. Blaine laughed.

'I'm not an American Pie movie, Tal. And like you said. It came from Miranda so of course I wouldn't believe her.' He said and smiled at her. She was expressionless, staring in front of her. Blaine decided this was better than her being angry. The fierceness in her expression was beautiful, feline and animalistic, graceful and poised, like ice. Possibly deadly, but beautiful to look at.

Behind the couple, the four friends explained to the newcomer the slightly complicated relationship that was Blaine and Talia.

'Are they going out, or…?' Quinn asked, staring at them. They were holding hands, but their attitudes didn't exactly announce they were romantically involved.

'We don't… actually know.' Wes had to admit, furrowing his brows.

'They like each other and everything, they've even kissed but in public they seem like they could just maybe be really close friends. Like the kind of friends that grew up together, know everything about each other.' Farrah explained.

'Close friends is a term that people use to disguise the fact that they've already started fucking.' Quinn said bluntly. The other four burst out laughing, partly in shock that the cuss word had come out of Quinn Fabray's mouth and partly because they agreed and that it was something they had been thinking for a while themselves.

'It seems that way, doesn't it?' Rita said quietly, watching Blaine and Talia. They were holding hands and talking, to anyone this could have just been innocent and between close friends, but the five that knew they were more than that.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12: Popular, You're Gonna Be Popular**

That afternoon, Quinn and Talia met up in the Dalton sports grounds. They were both dressed in tank tops and shorts, their shoes thin but sturdy. Quinn's hair was done up into a perfect ponytail, somehow curled when she had straightened her hair in the morning. Talia's hair had been pulled back into a pony tail too but was tied into six sections to keep it from flying everywhere when she flipped around. Quinn stood importantly on the side of the football pitch with her fists on her hips, she smiled as she felt like the McKinley head cheerleader again. Talia walked up to her and smiled.

'You feel like yourself again.' Talia stated. At this, Quinn broke into a grin.

'It's so different here. People used to part in the hallways like the red sea when I turned a corner.' Quinn said, shaking her head. 'Here I'm nothing.'

'Not anymore though, huh?' Talia said, smirking at her. Quinn smirked back. Ms Durele, now Mrs Trenton, walked in front of the gaggle of girls waiting for the tryouts with a girl. The girl, was already dressed in the Dalton cheerleader uniform. She had medium brown hair and brown eyes, although she seemed plain, she was built like an Amazonian warrior. She was tall and angular, beautiful the way an eagle was.

'Girls, welcome to cheer leading tryouts. This is Margo, our head cheerleader. She will be helping me pick you out. You will first do the routine you have prepared and then maybe we'll ask you to do some moves for us. Please be reminded that there are only five available places, although we might not fill all of them.' Ms Trenton smiled half heartedly as her eyes scanned over the group. Most of the girls were dressed in tee shirts and yoga pants with their hair down, already looking not very ready. Quinn and Talia were pushed to the back of the queue as the rest of the girls pushed and shoved forward, determined to get a place on the team and a chance at popularity. Quinn scoffed as she watched the girls dance comically in the grass. Talia fought the urge to grin as a girl tried to do a handstand and fall into a bridge but flopped on to ground instead with a loud 'fuck!'.

'You've been a cheer leader before?' Quinn asked. Talia shook her head.

'I do gymnastics and dancing. How different is it really?' She said to Quinn. Quinn shrugged. After all the girls, Quinn let Talia go first, insisting that she wanted the dramatic finish. Talia moved forward and up to the judges table.

'Talia Reagan.' She told Ms Trenton. Ms Durele smiled as she penned down Talia's name.

'You're sure you want to do this, Talia? You're stretching yourself a little thin.' Ms Durele gave her a motherly smile. She knew all about Talia from Mr Trenton. Talia laughed.

'Nothing's too hard for me.' Talia smiled jokingly. She moved further back from the judges table and started her routine. She flipped backwards and landed in a split before rolling forward and standing back up. She flipped backwards and transitioned into a cartwheel, before turning it into a handstand and falling backwards, landing in a bridge. From the bridge, she lifted back into a handstand and bent one leg, touching down on the ground with it before standing up and doing a scorpion. She decided to add a jump to finish with, as she was doing all this spontaneously, having only designed the routine in class. She jumped high up into the air and did a toe touch before landing with her hands up in the air in a 'V' and bowed. Ms Durele and Margo clapped in appreciation, smiling widely at Talia. Talia walked over to the bleachers where the other girls sat. They gawked at her as she walked past. It was Quinn's turn. She smiled as she started the routine, getting into position. This was really too easy, she thought. She started to do Coach Sylvester's warm up routine, flipping, spinning and turning, her ponytail whipping around all over the place. She ended the routine with her hands on her hips and bowed, grinning showing all her teeth. Everyone clapped, even the girls in the bleachers. Quinn smirked imperiously. She was getting her life back. Ms Durele and Margo walked over to the bleachers, Ms Durele holding a clipboard. She smiled sadly at them while Margo stared with a small smile at Talia and Quinn.

'Well, sadly, I have only decided to put two of you through after careful discussion with Margo.' Ms Durele started. 'We have decided to put Quinn and Talia through, congratulations, girls.' She smiled at the two friends. The blonde and brunette grinned at her for a few seconds before standing up and squealing at each other, hugging. The other girls started to move out, grumbling about their failed cheerleading tryouts for the third time in a row. Quinn and Talia kept their arms around each other's waists and walked down the bleacher steps. Margo embraced them both.

'You both did really well. Best tryouts I've seen in my three years being head.' She said, smiling, her eyes glittering in the sun.

'Congratulations, to you both.' Ms Durele smiled. 'Practices are on Wednesdays in the gym. You'll get your uniforms delivered to your rooms on the weekend, if they don't fit then send them back to the dry cleaning room.' Margo smiled but nudged the two of them lightly.

'Come on, we better get off the field before the boys coming in for the football tryouts come in.' She giggled. Ms Durele walked off to the edge while Margo dragged the two younger girls with her.

'Football tryouts?' Talia asked quizzically. Margo nodded.

'Yeah, didn't you know? We can stay if you'd like, watch the boys get all rough and dirty.' Margo said, her eyes widening in invitation and smirking. Talia shook her head.

'Let's go. I don't like the stench of sweaty boys and their deodorant.' Quinn said, shaking her head and dragging the two brunettes behind her. She had had a bit _too _much experience with that. The brunettes laughed. Quinn and Talia made their way back to Windsor after cleaning up.

'Talia, what is the deal with you and Blaine?' Quinn asked as they walked slowly across the courtyard. Talia sighed.

'We like each other. But I'm not entirely convinced that it's right for me to date him.' Talia said, understanding at once what Quinn meant.

'I'm afraid I'll hurt him.' Talia said quietly. 'He's like a puppy. He's so _happy _all of the time and I don't want to ruin that. He's in danger because he's involved with me in _that _way. I've hurt too many people because of _it_.' Quinn nodded sympathetically.

'Every kiss is poison. Every touch bringing him an inch closer to the inescapable web that is my life.' Talia said sadly. Quinn was mildly surprised as she heard the sadness in Talia's voice, how it sounded so old. It didn't suit Talia. But for once, she understood Talia. She had grown up without parents, they hadn't been in any of her conscious memories at least. Ordinary toys like teddy bears and Barbies traded for a gun. They made it to Windsor and went inside their room. A moment after they had put down their things, a knock on the door sounded. Talia got up to get the door, being closest. Rita and Farrah entered the room.

'Guess where the boys are.' Farrah said, raising an eyebrow with her arms crossed over her chest. Quinn raised an eyebrow.

'Charlie dragged them all to football tryouts.' Rita said. Talia and Quinn's eyebrows shot into their hairlines.

'They _what?_' Talia and Quinn exclaimed.

'Do you think we should go see?' Quinn asked, she grinned suggestively.

'You know, in case they die.' Talia said, grabbing her keys off the desk and opening the door. The four girls ran back across the courtyard to the football field, where they could already hear the sounds of a game. Like many other girls, they sat up in the bleachers and tried to decipher which of the running boys were theirs.

'Ooh, Talia! That's Blaine!' Quinn exclaimed, pointing to a boy with the number 12 on his dark blue jersey. Talia's eyes widened. Number 12 was one of the boys smashing themselves into the cushion covered blocks and pushing them across the field. He was the fastest one. Her lips parted in amazement. That was _Blaine _under that helmet. Soon after, they spotted Wes and David trying out for kicker and then Charlie trying for quarter back. They all watched on in horror as they alternated between the three groups, wincing as they saw Blaine slam into the blocks again.

'Don't you think this is kind of hot? Even if they are getting hurt over and over again.' Talia said thoughtfully.

'Preach, sister.' Rita said. They laughed. Soon, the tryouts were over and the football coach, Mr Butcher, called the boys around him. They watched as he yelled loudly the names of the people who got in. They watched as Charlie and Blaine crushed each other in a hug and Wes and David fist pump. Mr Butcher dismissed them and they left for the showers. The two blondes and two brunettes scurried down the bleachers to meet the boys in the field, much like the rest of the girls there were doing. They stood in front of the four boys, the blondes' hands on their hips and the brunettes' arms crossed over their chests.

'What were you doing? You could have died!' Farrah started.

'_Blaine_ could have died.' The other three boys corrected.

'You could have at least told us where you were going.' Quinn said, looking disapprovingly at each of them. The boys sighed.

'We were going to surprise you if we got in.' Charlie explained. 'And you were doing cheer leading tryouts with Talia.'

'Well, did you? Or else you could've died for nothing.' Talia asked. They all grinned.

'Yes.' Charlie and Blaine replied in unison, grinning. At the same time, Wes and David replied no. Talia smirked softly at Blaine. He smiled back and ran a hand through his damp curls.

'If you two didn't get in why are you still so happy?' Rita asked, brows furrowed.

'Because we didn't. These two just dragged us here.' Wes said, rolling his eyes.

'Come on. Go shower and we'll go to dinner.' Quinn shooed. With that, the boys retreated to the changing rooms. Quinn smirked knowingly at Talia, nodding her head slightly. Her eyes said 'yes. footballer boyfriend, check.' A full twenty minutes later, the boys came back out. It was the girls' turn to grumble now.

'Come on, you took forever.' Talia said and started to walk off. The rest of the girls followed after her, the boys staring after them slightly bewildered. Wes sighed.

'We don't take nearly half as long as they do to get ready in the morning.' He muttered and the boys ran after them.

After dinner, Talia decided to read in the common room, finding her own room a bit quiet. She was halfway through To Kill A Mockingbird again, when she head screaming and yelling. The whole dorm stood still, trying to hear. It was Charlie and Miranda.

'_ARE YOU FUCKING HER NOW? IS THAT IT? YOU WERE GONE THE WHOLE AFTERNOON!' _Miranda screeched. She seemed to be crying furiously.

'_I, WAS AT FOOTBALL TRYOUTS. WHERE WERE YOU? THE TWINS SAID THEY SAW YOU TRYING TO PUT A BUG ABOVE RITA'S DOOR SO YOU COULD WATCH QUINN AND TALIA'S ROOM.' _Charlie screamed back. He sounded _completely _outraged. Talia decided to go back to her room, thinking Quinn was in there and no doubt could hear the two of them screaming through the walls since Miranda's room was only five doors down. She raced up the stairs lightly.

'Does it matter? YOU were the one sneaking around and _you're _getting down on me for this? I only wanted to protect our love!' Miranda sobbed. Even Talia could tell it was fake. Talia opened her door swiftly and found Quinn sitting on her bed, staring at the floor. She sat down next to her and squeezed her hand.

'It's a violation of privacy, Miranda! You know that!' Charlie bellowed.

'YOU'RE my boyfriend! Shouldn't you be making me feel better about us? Don't you want US, Charlie?' Miranda screamed.

'We were never an us, Miranda. There was only you and I was only a toy.' Charlie said lowly. 'I'm done with you, Miranda. I'm _glad _Talia kicked you.' Talia's lips twitched, remembering the kick. Charlie opened the door and slammed it closed and stomped down the corridor, to what seemed to be Quinn and Talia's room. Quinn looked up to the door and glanced at Talia. Talia got up and opened the door. She smiled sadly.

'Hey, Chaz. I'll just leave, then.' Talia said and was about to slip out the door, but Charlie pulled her back.

'No, Talia. Stay. Be a witness for me.' Charlie said. Quinn was still staring at Charlie, sitting on the bed. Charlie walked over to her and knelt down. Quinn's mouth formed an 'o'.

'What are you doing, Charlie?' She hissed. Charlie took her hands in his.

'Quinn, will you be my girlfriend?' Charlie blurted out. Quinn's eyes widened even more, if it were possible.

'Will you mend my heart?' Charlie asked, his own eyes wide at his boldness.

'Y-Yes.' Quinn said quietly. Charlie smiled and picked her up, twirling her in his arms.

'By the way, Talia, feel free to kick Miranda now.' Charlie said. Talia smiled.

'Copy that.' She said, smirking evilly in the direction of Miranda's room. Charlie sat Quinn back down and beamed at her.

'Didn't you say you did glee club when you were in McKinley?' Charlie asked. Quinn nodded. 'Why don't you go to Warblers tomorrow? I'll walk you. Talia has swimming.' Quinn nodded again and smiled, her tongue peeking out from her teeth.

'Sure. My last class is Spanish.' Quinn replied. Charlie smiled.

'See you then.' He replied and left the room. Talia laughed as soon as Charlie left the room. Quinn was grinning to herself.

'I told you.' Talia said to Quinn.

*~A/N~*: I am aware that the routine that Talia did might not be physically possible but I don't know the first thing about gymnastics, I myself can't even do a forward roll. I apologize to those of you who do know gymnastics, but I'm not going to change it because that's how I want it.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13: Stranger in My Life**

'Aren't you going to congratulate _your _boy?' Quinn asked, raising an eyebrow. Talia smiled and bit her lip. She took out her phone and texted Blaine.

_**Will you go to the gardens with me? Quinn's having a bit of a moment. ~T**_

She stuffed her feet into fur boots. It was only seven degrees now, at night. Pulling on a beanie and her coat, her phone buzzed.

_**Yes, thank god. Wes and Dave are discussing soccer tactics. ~B**_

She smiled and opened the room door.

'I'll be back before ten.' She called to Quinn. She walked down the stairs and out the door, and waited on the steps for Blaine. A few minutes later, Blaine appeared, a beanie squishing his curls down so that they peeked out the edge of the hat. He smiled at her and they set off.

'Did you hear the fight?' Talia asked him. Blaine grinned and nodded.

'Chaz finally came to his senses, huh?' He said. 'Did you hear where he went afterwards?'

'He came to our room.' Talia said, smiling. 'He literally got down on his knees and asked Quinn to be his girlfriend.'

'They've known each other for less than forty eight hours.' Blaine said. Talia smiled.

'I don't think we have the right to judge considering we weren't much better.' She said, glancing at him. He smiled

'It was a full week!' Blaine defended.

'Why did you go to football tryouts, Blaine? You didn't tell me you knew how to play football.' Talia asked quietly. Blaine exhaled loudly.

'I always knew _how _to play football. I just never physically carried it out.' Blaine explained. 'So, I decided to finally try. See if all the years I put into the theory would work out for me.' Talia didn't reply.

'And I did it for you.' He added quietly. Talia turned sharply to him in the middle of the garden path. They stood in the warm yellow pool of light from one of the gas lamps.

'You decided to slam into a block a million times for me?' Talia asked, her expression pained. She was already putting him in danger and he had to go up his chances of dying by another notch.

'I did it for myself and for you.' Blaine said, looking down into her eyes seriously. 'I did it because I wanted to prove myself. And to be adequate for you.'

'Adequate?' Talia raised an eyebrow. Blaine nodded.

'If you were a cheer leader, I was almost a hundred percent sure that you would, then that would mean you were higher in the popularity scale. I wanted to match up to you so that you wouldn't lose too much face. And no way in hell was I going to let you run off with some football jock.' Blaine explained, looking up into the sky. Talia smiled softly, before it turned into a smirk.

'Aren't you some football jock now?' She asked, raising an eyebrow. He grinned. 'And do I really look so petty as to run off with someone else because you weren't popular enough for me?'

'I couldn't take the chance.' Blaine whispered. Talia wound her arms around his neck and hugged him. His arms latched on around her back.

'You're stupid for doing all of that to yourself for me. But thank you for thinking of me.' She said by his ear. She pulled back and kissed him.

'Did you get in?' Blaine asked Talia.

'Like you said. Of course I did. So did Quinn.' Talia said. They started to walk back.

'We'll be one of the most popular people in school.' Blaine said dreamily.

'No, Quinn and Charlie will be. Charlie's the quarter back.' Talia said. 'And when did you start caring about popularity?' Blaine didn't answer, hesitating slightly. He gave a shaky sigh.

'Talia, there was a time when I was really confused about myself.' Blaine said, sighing. 'Who I was. What I was.' Talia didn't reply and waited patiently for Blaine to continue.

'I thought I was gay for a while, Talia.' Blaine said quietly.

'That must have been hard.' Talia said sympathetically, albeit mildly stunned.

'I got bullied a lot. Got harassed and everything, and I was at the bottom of the pile. So being popular has never been a must, but embraced since then.' Blaine explained, sighing.

'Is that why you apologized for not speaking to me?' Talia asked. 'On the first day?'

'Yeah.' Blaine said, smiling a little. 'Finally being able to play football was like a confirmation of my sexuality to myself. I didn't dare doing football before because most of the people I was bullied by were in the football team.'

'Did it stop? The bullying, I mean.' Talia asked. Blaine exhaled loudly.

'No.' He said quietly. 'No, no it didn't. I transferred in the middle of the school year, to Colorado. Because that was where my brother was.'

'I'm sorry you had to go through that.' Talia said truthfully.

'Aren't you going to freak out?' Blaine asked. 'Ask me if I'm sure I'm straight?'

'It would be unfair if I freaked out on you when you didn't when I told you that I knew how to use a gun.' Talia said. She turned to face him and smiled. 'And I don't think you could stand kissing me like _that _if you weregay.' Blaine smiled and looked down at the ground before looking back up at her.

'Why, though? You could just not care and do it.' Blaine said. Talia rolled her eyes.

'It's called logic.' She replied. She looked away from him and stared down the path. 'You still don't know everything about me, Blaine. No one does.' Talia said wistfully. Blaine smiled.

'Well, then I can be the first one. And I can't say that you know everything about me either.' He said. They finally emerged out of the gardens and began to walk back to Windsor. Although it was now almost pitch black, and the other houses only had a few specks of light on them, Windsor still had all of its lights on. Checking his watch, Blaine huffed.

'We've missed curfew.' He said swearing under his breath.

'Blaine, this is Windsor. Almost no one meets curfew.' Talia said, although her tone sounded like she wanted to believe it was true. They walked up to the door, the door light casting a halo of warm yellow light on the ground. Testing the door carefully, Blaine found it was still unlocked. They walked inside, finding the common room still in its usual state of chaos.

'See you tomorrow, then.' Talia smiled. Blaine leaned in and kissed her quickly before winking and walking up the stairs.

'Five hundred freestyle! I want it under three minutes!' Mr Trenton yelled. Talia sighed inwardly. Although she was the freestyle sprinter of the group, doing this was a bit beyond her range. They had already been swimming non stop for the past hour and fifteen minutes. _Another five sets. _She thought to herself. She closed her eyes and continued swimming in her lane, letting the water glide next to her, becoming second nature to her. She could feel her arms and legs protesting against the movement, feel the ache and burning. Completing the set, she stood at the start of her lane, feeling as if she could keel over. Her heart was pounding, echoing in her ears and a pain pulsed alongside it. Blaine, who was in the lane next to Talia completed the set next. He glanced at her. She was gripping the ledge of the pool and seemed to be staring at the water, because her goggles reflective no one could see she had her eyes closed.

'Tal.' Blaine said. Talia didn't look up. He dived under the lane rope into her lane and touched her arm.

'Talia?' He asked. She looked up at him. 'You okay?'

'Yeah, just tired.' She said quietly, smiling shakily. Blaine went back under the lane rope, still unconvinced. Mr Trenton walked up and down the lanes, observing how tired they were. Although he was nice, everyone on the swim team thought that his practices only stopped when he thought they looked near enough to fatigue.

'Okay, team! Good job today! Get enough rest, drink water and eat! Eat as much as you want!' He said. Talia pushed herself up onto the side of the pool. She stayed there for a few moments before getting up slowly as if she was afraid of falling. Sonya, the breaststroke sprinter, grabbed her arm. Talia looked up.

'You look really tired, Tal.' She said worriedly. 'Why don't you try swimming at a normal speed?' She teased. Talia always completed the sets first, sometimes quick enough for Mr Trenton to give her another one in between.

'I won't do my best if I don't push myself.' Talia said, rinsing off the chlorine off her and her hair. Sonya walked into the other stall next to her.

'You're not pushing yourself anymore, Talia. You're pushing yourself over.' She said.

'If I can do 500 at that speed then I'll be able to do 100 in a flash.' She said. Her specialty category would be the girls' relay and 100 meter freestyle sprint.

'You better eat a ton at dinner.' Sonya said, wrapping her hair up in a towel. Talia tied hers into a bun and they changed into casual clothes.

'It's fudge day. Hell yes.' Talia said. They walked down to the cafeteria slowly, the boys had already left. Talia took the chicken salad and a slice of pizza along with three pieces of fudge. She walked over to their table where Blaine was already sitting. He looked up as she sat down.

'Are you all right, Tal?' He asked. Talia nodded.

'Blood sugar, I guess.' She replied. Quinn looked at her worriedly.

'I have chocolate in our room. I'll give you some.' She said, eying Talia. She had seemed to be getting more tired after every practice. The group retreated back to Windsor, Blaine and Talia agreeing tiredly to just spend the day tomorrow in school, wanting to rest for once. Talia lay down on her bed immediately, her muscles finally sighing in relief. A knock on the door sounded and Quinn got up to get it.

'Charlie.' She smiled. Charlie smiled at her for a few seconds before handing her a letter.

'It's for Talia.' He glanced behind Quinn at her. 'Is she alright?'

'Yeah, she just pushed herself too hard at swim practice. She'll probably be fine by tomorrow.' Quinn said. Charlie smiled and waved slightly.

'See you tomorrow, then.' He said and backed away. Quinn rested her hand on Talia's arm.

'Tal? You've got a letter.' She said quietly, her tone dripping with concern. Talia opened her eyes sleepily and took the letter. She grabbed her glasses and opened the letter. Quinn went back to coordinating an outfit.

_Dear Talia,_

_We are extremely excited to tell you that we have destroyed almost all ties to the gang, there is only one more that has direct ties and could therefor get passed the rights. We might be able to come to your parents' night meeting! We have already reunited with Gabriel and Saoirse for a while now, the regions they were in now cleared off. Gabriel might come ahead of us, please act like a family. For us._

_Love,_

_Mom and Dad_

She stared at the last seven words, wondering how those seven little words could enrage her so much. She ripped up the letter and threw the bits out the window. Quinn glanced at her.

'What happened?' She asked.

'My brother might be coming ahead of my parents. Apparently they have one more person to kill off only.' Talia said. 'They're telling me to act like a family. For _them._ Isn't that a little hypocritical considering it's because of them we're _not _a family?'

'They _were _doing it for your own good.' Quinn said reasonably.

'I understand that! But how can they not understand that I don't have any conscious memories of ever having a family at all? Gabriel and Saoirse were nine when we were separated.' Talia said.

'I guess they just want you to catch up on everything. Be as much of a family as you can since you never had that.' Quinn said.

'They're basically strangers to me.' Talia said and sat back down on her bed, laughing once humorlessly. 'Hell, I don't know what a family is.'

'Well, I think you should get to know Gabriel like a friend. Pretend that he's not your brother.' Quinn suggested

'What if he's weird? What if he's the complete opposite of me?' Talia asked.

'Then pretend he's adopted.' Quinn said simply. Talia sighed and lay down on her bed, she fell asleep quickly, murmuring suggestions to Quinn.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14: Something To Believe In**

The next day, Quinn had already left with Charlie when Talia woke up. Her clock, however, said it was only nine. She yawned, brushed her teeth and got dressed. She grabbed her keys and went across the hall to Rita and Farrah's room. She knocked but there was no reply. They'd probably gone out already. If they were out, that meant they had taken Wes and David with them. That meant she had to go wake Blaine up. She sighed and walked over, not bothering to wear proper shoes. She tried the door. It was unlocked. She opened it to find Wes and David's beds meticulously made, and Blaine's third of the room in near catastrophe. He was lying face down and spread eagle on his bed, the sheets twisted and exposed his bare back. Clothes and books were strewn everywhere, his swim trunks hanging on the door handle to the bathroom. Talia went over and took off her shoes. She stood lightly on his bed.

'Blaine. You have to get up now.' She sang. He groaned into the pillow. She started jumping up and down.

'COME ON. YOU HAVE TO START BUZZING AROUND AGAIN. LIKE A BUMBLE BEE. COME ON, BUMBLE.' She called, giggling at her own childishness. He rolled over, accidentally tripping her. She fell onto the bed next to him and laughed, exhilarated.

'Where's the fire?' He mumbled, eyes closed. His arm was under Talia's head, serving as a pillow of sorts.

'Not in you, apparently.' Talia said and sat up. She smacked his stomach, which made a loud crack. Her hand actually hurt as she hit the hard muscles.

'Come on. We have the whole day to ourselves. Let's go on a picnic.' She said excitedly. Blaine's eyes opened slowly and stared at her.

'Then we could just say here.' He said, raising an eyebrow suggestively and smirked. Talia rolled her eyes.

'Come on. Get dressed.' She said. He sat up and stretched his back. Talia had never truly appreciated Blaine's body, although she saw it half naked more than six hours every week. A light smattering of hair across his defined chest, the muscles in his back, chest and middle rippling, not as light and sinewy as the other swimmer boys but not entirely as muscular as the footballers. Just right. He got up and rubbed his face, pulling a Warblers grey tee shirt over his head of springy curls, he trudged into the bathroom. Talia picked her way across the floor, avoiding the dirty laundry. On Blaine's desk was a picture. Blaine was standing next to a tall good looking boy, dark hair and green eyes. They were both grinning and wet, standing on a beach where the sun was setting behind them. The boy was like a taller, younger version of Blaine. Where you could tell Blaine was mixed, his brother looked like any other American boy. The door to the bathroom opened.

'Is this your brother, Blaine?' Talia asked. Blaine walked up behind her. He sighed.

'That's Shane.' Blaine nodded. Talia looked up at his cork board. She grinned and smacked his arm lightly.

'Is this why you insisted on taking so many pictures?' She asked. She fingered the edges of the photos. All of them were of her or the both of them. He smiled down at her.

'You don't think it's creepy?' He asked. Talia laughed and turned around to face him.

'Well, yeah, I do. But you're in some of them so that's not _as _creepy.' She teased. He walked closer, making her lean back his desk. He put his hands on the desk, effectively caging her. She was smiling slightly, her eyes narrowed in anticipation, glinting.

'I'm going to kiss you.' He breathed. His eyes darted from her eyes to her lips.

'Do it.' She whispered back. His lips slammed into hers, the force knocking her back slightly. His hands left the table and held her waist quickly, he pushed her up to sit on the desk. She grabbed at his hair, pulling them flush against each other. They let go finally, breathing hard.

'Let's stick with the picnic.' Blaine said, panting slightly. Talia nodded. He picked up his guitar and an extra blanket and they went downstairs into the kitchen. In the cupboards, everyone had a cubby to put their own food in. Then, there was a public cupboard that was usually stocked with all assortments of candy and sweet snacks. The cooks had realized from the start that Windsor had a bit of a sweet tooth. From Talia's cubby, Blaine took a tupperware container of cookies. Talia usually baked three batches and donated two to the public cupboard. Those were usually gone in a matter of hours. One batch, she kept on hand for after swim trainings. She made a mental note to make more later. Blaine grabbed a box of Oreos from his own cubby and put it into a paper bag. Talia grabbed bread, tuna and mayonnaise and smacked everything together, creating two sloppy sandwiches. Grabbing the butcher knife from the block, she smacked it into the sandwiches and came away with two perfectly clean cut triangles.

'When being a trained killer comes in handy.' Blaine said. Talia smirked and put away the mayonnaise, tuna and knife. He spun around and wrapped the sandwiches up. They stuffed everything into the brown bag along with soda. The couple trekked down into the deepest part of the garden, the part where no one but the gardeners went. They emerged into a patch of grass with trees dotted around it, hiding the walls that surrounded Dalton. Talia spread out the blanket and they sat down. Out of her messenger bag, Talia fished out a pencil, camera and sketchbook. Blaine had already taken out his guitar and was absently playing cords. She snapped a picture of him and then started to sketch out their surroundings and Blaine.

'What are you doing?' Blaine asked, feeling self conscious now.

'We're studying people in art. So I have to sketch you now.' Talia said, and blurred out the trees so that Blaine became the focal point.

'I thought you only had to complete twelve art pieces by the end of the year.' Blaine said. Talia nodded.

'I do. But this is kind of like an exercise so that we keep building on our knowledge.' Talia explained.

'Do you want me to keep playing?' Blaine asked. Talia nodded. They sat in a comfortable silence, Blaine playing his guitar quietly while Talia sketched him. She shaded in carefully and darkened lines, trying to be as detailed with his face as she could. Finally, after over half an hour, she finished. She smiled at her finished product.

'There.' She announced and flipped the thick sketchbook over to show him. He gaped. He sat in the middle of the grass, each individual blade drawn and shaded. He could even tell that in the picture he was playing a bar F chord. His shadow was liquid, spilling over the corner of the blanket. The trees in the background were drawn individually, but also seemed out of focus like it was a black and white version of a photo.

'It's brilliant.' He said, continuing to stare at it. Talia picked her soda and sandwiches out of the bag and bit into it nonchalantly, although she really wanted to say 'I know.'.

'I know what you want to say, Talia. You deserve it.' Blaine said, smirking lightly, not looking up. She grinned.

'Since when did you know me so well?' Talia asked, raising an eyebrow. Blaine smiled softly.

'I just pick up things. Like how, apparently, you own wristbands in every color possible.' He replied, raising an eyebrow without looking up again. Talia glanced down at her right forearm. She was wearing a purple wristband that day. The day before had been red. She did seem to have an obsession with them.

'How you always write your notes in perfect handwriting, or how you can do it with both hands. Or how you can only study with music playing.' He said. Talia smiled as she finished her sandwich. He was the first one to comment on her wristband obsession although she had been wearing one every single day.

'How do you pick up on all these little things?' She asked, taking the tupperware container of cookies out. He put down his guitar finally and picked up his package of sandwiches.

'Well, I wouldn't be your boyfriend if I didn't, would I?' He said, taking a huge bite of his sandwich.

'Is that what we are, then?' Talia asked thoughtfully, breaking off a piece off of her cookie. Blaine looked at her with a playful smile.

'I guess we are, Talia Reagan.' He smiled cheekily. She smiled and rolled her eyes. She lay across the blanket, looking at the clouds. She could hear Blaine flipping through her sketchbook. He flipped through the paper, thickly coated with slick paint and pastels, little doodles done every now and then in color pencil. He gasped as he came across two spreads all showcasing detailed drawings and measurements of a grand piano. It had been labelled _Grand Piano Model (Media: Clay). _

'You're making a grand piano out of _clay_?' He asked incredulously. She nodded, crossing one arm across her diaphragm, the other held to her mouth with the cookie in it.

'Is that even possible?' Blaine asked. The drawings already seemed incredibly hard to have been drawn.

'Of course it's possible. Anything's possible if you're working with clay.' Talia said, slightly defensive.

'How long have you been working with clay?' He asked. He grinned as he came across a perfectly replicated color pencil sketch of a Ferragamo shoe.

'Since... forever.' She said thoughtfully. 'I only truly took lessons when I was in Korea, and then I made things for fun in the holidays at the base.'

'Wouldn't drawing or painting be easier? All of these sketches and paintings are magnificent.' He said. She had sketched the street they had been on in Columbus, and then one of Windsor, another of the fountain at the entrance and the courtyard.

'How did you _draw _all of these? They're perfectly proportioned and everything. And you never just sat out there for hours.' Blaine said. Talia laughed and rolled over. She looked lazily up at him.

'Because I'm perfect.' She said simply and shrugged her shoulders. Blaine rolled his eyes and shook his head at her. Suddenly, from inside the trees an unnatural, loud rustle sounded. Talia's head snapped in the direction it came from, Blaine looked up just in time to see a flash of blonde. Talia sat up. She stared into the bushes in horror. It was Logan.

'Let's go, Blaine.' She said, and stood up, stuffing everything back into the paper bag and bundling the blanket. Blaine stood up confusedly but obliged, taking his guitar and holding Talia's sketchbook they walked briskly back to Windsor, to the safety of Talia's room.

'Why is _Logan _suddenly stalking us?' Blaine whispered furiously at Talia. Talia looked at him with indifference, her gaze almost cold.

'Logan is a _Tore_. The Tores are the mafia family my parents have been wiping out.' Talia explained, taking her hand gun and stuffing it in her belt, the flannel shirt she was wearing covering it. She turned away from him and looked out the window. 'If you don't want to be dragged into this, you can leave now, Blaine. If you don't want to die.'

'I just don't understand why he has to kill you.' He said angrily. 'That's why I'm so frustrated.' Talia spun around, her expression was livid, so ferocious it was almost inhuman.

'Because he wants _revenge, _Blaine. He wants to kill me because my parents have killed his _entire _fucking family. Maybe he wants to hold me hostage so that when my parents find out they'll come here to save me and then he'll kill _them. _What part of this do you _not _understand? I _told _you all of this! The consequences! If you want to leave now, then fine, do that! Do that like every other person that I've _ever _known and loved in my life!' She yelled at him. Blaine was stunned speechless. Was this the _real _Talia Reagan? Come to think of it, if she had so many fake identities before, could the Talia in the gardens, at Warblers, Farrah Mitchell's best friend, be fake?

'Is this what you meant by "you don't know me"? That you're just cold and your personality's like a _gun_?' Blaine said. He cringed inside, instantly regretting his words. They cut like a dagger through his _own _heart. Talia's eyes widened for a millisecond, before she recovered and became steely. In her head, she remembered all the things Blaine had promised, vowed, had said about never leaving her and always being there for her. This only further strengthened her previous theory that no one ever meant anything they said and that the people you loved the most would be the ones to hurt you the hardest.

'Don't pretend to be hurt, Blaine.' She said. 'You knew full well that this could happen. And obviously, to you, my being able to hold a gun does make me a bad person.' She stormed out, the door banging loudly. She ran down the hallway and the stairs. She ran out the front door, letting the heavy wood bang shut by itself. Sprinting all the way to the art department, she went to her sanctuary, her safe haven. The potters' studio in the art building wasn't technically hers, but almost no one except the occasional art teacher and small group of freshmen and sophomores went in there. Talia was the only one out of all the junior and senior who were allowed to choose visual arts for their art subject, who used clay as their main form of media. From under the work table in the centre of the room, she took a bag of clay and cut a chunk out. She smacked it on the table and started to knead it. She worked out all of her frustration onto it. Taking one of the massive rolling pins, she rolled it out into three slabs, each thicker bit by bit. She took the sheaf of photocopies that she had made of her sketches out and started to make the main body of the piano. She was halfway through sticking the side onto the freshly cut out base when her sensitive ears detected the unnaturally quiet footsteps on the thin layer of clay dust on the floor. She looked up to find a blonde man, college aged. His skin was slightly tanned, four shades lighter than Talia's. He wore a tee shirt and cargo shorts paired with loafers, hair was in a long buzz cut, his hands in his pockets. He could only be described as a Californian frat boy.

'Can I help you?' Talia asked, smiling politely. He looked over to her as if he just noticed she was there and was astonished by the fact she existed. He gaped.

'Are... are you Talia Reagan?' He asked. She stood up from her stool, eyes narrowing slightly suspiciously.

'Yes.' She replied. He continued to gape, mouth twitching as if not sure whether to gape more or grin. He leaped forward and wrapped her up into a tight bear hug, his long arms making it around her shoulders to touch his shoulders again.

'Oh my god, I found you!' He exclaimed. She stiffened and easily pushed out of his grasp. His expression faltered a bit before he took something out of his pocket. It seemed to be a centimeter thick puzzle piece. It had the 'hyung', the Korean word for big brother on it. Her lips parted in astonishment.

'Gabby?' She whispered. He smiled tearily and wrapped her into his arms again. She held a hand to her mouth. She didn't know what to do. Attached to her scruffy messenger bag, was her own puzzle piece charm. Written in a neat, but still imitating hand, was the Chinese character for forever engraved on the front, and then a 'T' on the back. She knew that on her older sister's was sister in Thai.

'You've grown up so much.' He said tearily. He smoothed her hair back, like a father would. 'You've achieved _so _much. Better than me.'

'I don't get it. Is this safe?' She whispered. Gabriel looked quizzically at her.

'Of course.' He said.

'But mum and dad said that they still had one more to kill.' Talia said. Gabriel's eyebrows knitted closer together.

'They've killed everyone already.' He said, smiling softly as if she was a foolish small child. 'It's all right. They've killed all of them.' She stared into the distance as Gabriel hugged her again. Could Logan really be harmless? His name just a coincidence? If the twins had managed to find files on _her_, her _CIA _protected files, then there was no way Logan could do any better, right? If Logan_ was _harmless... then that meant her parents had been lying to her. She didn't know which one she wanted to believe.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15: Make Me Wanna Die**

'What.' Talia said quietly.

'Yeah, they're all dead.' Gabriel said again. His tone wasn't as friendly now. He couldn't understand why _she _couldn't understand.

'Mum and dad have been lying to me.' Talia stated. She fell stiff against him, not moving, trying to contain her anger and to take her gun and shoot everything she could.

'What?' Gabriel said. Now he was confused.

'They sent me a letter and told me there was one more.' Talia said. Gabriel's head cocked forward, as if he was doing an Egyptian dance.

'What. I've been _living _with them for two weeks.' Gabriel said. Talia gaped. She didn't bother putting away her project. She dumped all the clay into the recycling box and ran out of the art department, picking up her bag. She ran to the sports grounds and into the fencing hall, where no one would think of searching, wondering how many times she would have to run away from people today. Throwing her bag down, she started pacing in a square in the middle of the gym. She stopped and screamed as loud as she could, drowning out everything with her blood curdling scream. She screamed for as long as she could, almost as if she was holding a high note. She finally collapsed onto the ground, legs curled, arms on the ground as if praying. A gentle hand lay on her shoulder. She looked up to find Mr Chilton, looking extremely concerned. He took her bag and helped her up.

'Is there anyone you'd like to see? Or do you want me to just take you back to Windsor?' He asked gently.

'Ms Hencher. I have to speak with Ms Hencher.' She said shakily. They walked swiftly down to the admin building. Neither of them spoke. Finally, they arrived at Ms Hencher's room. Mr Chilton went into the room first, Talia could hear them murmuring.

'Do you want me to stay with you?' He asked when he came back out. Talia shook her head.

'You've already done more than you had to.' She smiled. He smiled uncertainly and left. She knocked on Ms Hencher's door.

'Come in.' A curt voice said. Talia opened the door and closed it quietly, sitting down in the uncomfortable black leather chair that was in front of her desk.

'Have you come to change out of Windsor?' Ms Hencher asked. Talia shook her head no with a small smile, but it vanished just as quickly as it had appeared.

'Ms Hencher, you know how it was a butler and a lawyer who signed me in?' Talia started. Ms Hencher didn't look up from whatever she was writing.

'Mmm hmm...' Ms Hencher murmured. 'It's not uncommon, Ms Reagan, this is a school for the children of rich parents, many parents honestly don't have the time to care.'

'No, Ms Hencher, I have to tell you something just because it's absolutely crucial now. Someone could die.' Talia said. At this, Ms Hencher looked up. Although many Windsors had tried to tell her a trick story in the past, and many of them had been convincing, but none of them ever joked about death. Something was missing from Talia's voice. The sense of Windsor mischief.

'Go on.' Ms Hencher said quietly. Talia took a deep breath.

'My parents work for the CIA, they're tailing a Mafia group based in America.' Talia said slowly. Ms Hencher raised an eyebrow for her to go on.

'Logan Tore. Is the son of the leader of that group. They're all dead now, but Logan is left.' She continued. Ms Hencher leaned back in her chair, fingertips together, nodding for her to keep going again. _God, none of these people seem to have a reaction to anything. _Talia thought. So far, every single person she had told had not been even slightly fazed.

'I think that Logan may be stalking me.' Talia said. Her face was completely composed, but her hands were shaking slightly in her lap, where Ms Hencher couldn't see.

'And I don't know if Logan is going to be murdered because of my parents, or if I'm going to be murdered by because of them. Either way, a murder might happen here.' Talia finished. Ms Hencher still didn't look very fazed.

'How do I know that you're not playing a prank?' Ms Hencher said. Talia sighed. All of them reacted the same way. She took her gun out of her belt and put it onto the table, making sure it was locked. Ms Hencher stared at the gun as if Talia had just confessed she had been taking drugs and smacked five pounds worth of cocaine on her table. She reached out a hand as if to touch it before she retracted it and shook her head at herself slightly.

'Thank you for telling me, Ms Reagan. I'll alert the headmaster immediately. I'm assuming that you'll be fine on your own for now, you have the proper means of protection?' Ms Hencher said, her voice now shaking just ever so slightly. Talia nodded and stood up, stuffing the gun back in her belt. She composed herself and walked out. It was at this moment that she wanted a car. But that couldn't happen soon enough, so she started to walk in to the city, remembering seeing a library cafe thing not very far in. Equipped with rock music, she walked briskly, but the walk would still take a good half an hour. She recalled her phone ringing a couple of times, but ignored it and eventually decided to just turn it off. She had gotten to a particularly good part of her song and a particularly straight part of the road, so she closed her eyes. She had walked off some steam, so she decided to take her phone out and at least text _someone _back. Her phone was just turning on, so she closed her eyes again. The car rolled slowly behind her, it wouldn't have been possible for her to hear. The car door clicked open, and her eyes snapped open and turned around just in time to see Logan getting out of the car. He held a knife, but his face betrayed his fear. She swiped a kick and he fell backwards into his car. He tried to get up but Talia kicked him in the chest again, but this time he caught her hand and pulled her to the ground.

He sat on her stomach and plunged the knife down to her chest. She screamed, although she felt a rush of relief as she realized he hadn't been accurate enough in stabbing her heart. She gurgled, struggling to breathe. He ran back to his car and drove away doing at least a hundred twenty miles per hour. She pulled a wad of tissues from her bad and stuffed them into the wound, gasping loudly in pain. Her hand was shaking violently, she could feel her muscles starting to go numb from the lack of oxygen. With almost all of her remaining _life, _she managed to get into the contacts page and dial Blaine's number. Putting it on speaker phone, she waited, and sure enough she heard his voice.

'Hello? Talia? Where are you? Everyone's been so worried.' He said slowly. She nudged the phone over and tried to speak, but what came out was more like a string of gurgles and gasps.

'Talia? Where are you? Are you alright?' He said, sounding a lot more desperate. She finally managed to say something.

'G-Ge.. het… tw.. wins.' She gasped out.

'The twins? OH SHIT. IS THIS ABOUT… YOU KNOW?' He replied. She felt a little relief as she heard him taking his keys. She continued to gasp and gurgle.

'I'm coming, okay? Now just hang on. Can you tell me where you are?' Blaine said gently.

'C-citttttyyyy.' She gasped, the end turning into desperate gulps of air. She heard Blaine screaming to the others and running to the car park, getting into his car and the car starting up. And then the squeal of tires. She waited and waited, still gasping and gulping down as much air as that one lung could take. She had started to cough up blood not a long while ago, the blood getting into her lungs coming back up. She waited, screaming in her head for Blaine to come faster. Finally, almost like a miracle, the squealing of tires coming from her phone matched the ones that she was actually hearing. Blaine opened the car door when it was still rolling to a stop, he was out the door. The twins jumped out after him. He had reached to pick her up, to do something.

'Blaine, no!' Blake yelled sternly. Blair was holding a massive medical bag. He knelt down next to Talia.

'You're doing great, Talia, just keep breathing, okay?' He said calmly. She kept gulping. Taking out a bottle of alcohol from the bag, a plastic bag and duct tape, Blake knelt down on her other side.

'I'm going to have to cut your shirt open, okay?' Blair said. Talia nodded. Blaine stared in horror as Blair cut open Talia's shirt, and despite the fact that she had a nice figure, all everyone could see was the big gaping stab wound. Blair opened the bottle of alcohol, poised to just dump it all over the wound.

'What? No! That's gonna hurt like hell!' Blaine said. Blair proceeded to just dump it all over her chest. Talia's eyes popped open and her eyes watered. Blake squeezed her hand. They cleaned the blood away from the wound and taped the plastic on top of the wound.

'Call 911.' Blake yelled at Blaine. Blaine started to dial.

'She's going to need CPR.' Blair said to Blake, glancing over at Blaine.

'Give her morphine first.' Blake said, and took the shot from the bag. He cleaned her arm and shot it in. Almost immediately, Talia relaxed more. With the bag over the wound, she was breathing better but still gulping air.

'Blaine, we have to do CPR. She's going to die if we don't.' Blair said. Blake had never taken the CPR classes in the base. Blaine looked apprehensive.

'Blaine, she's going to _die._' Blair said, not believing that Blaine was so hung up on that he would he touching her. Blaine nodded slowly. Bending over, he leaned over Talia and pushed air down her mouth, clasping her nose. She started to breathe more normally, but still gulping in between Blair's pushes. The ambulance was slow, only coming after another ten minutes. By that time, the blood was seeping through the sides of the plastic bag and sloshing around. Blaine had just watched in horror during the whole thing, as the medics put her onto the stretcher and dumped more alcohol all over her. Blake and Blair pulled him into the ambulance and they rushed her to the hospital in Columbus. He snapped back to reality as she went unconscious.


End file.
